Debates of 25 Jan 2022

Hon Members, item numbered 2 - Communication from the President.

Hon Members, we would move to the item numbered 3 - Formal Communication by the Speaker. Before I do that, I would invite the Leaders of the Caucuses to, at least, welcome Hon Members to the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.

I would do this by starting with the Leader of the Minority Caucus, the Hon Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South -- He is not yet Alhaji.

He is.

I am told he is double Alhaji Haruna Iddrisu.
Hon Minority Leader, you may please welcome Hon Members to the House.

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank you for the opportunity and to put on record that I have duly been to Mecca and visited the Kaaba and could be referred to as Alhaji Haruna Iddrisu. [Hear! Hear!]
Mr Speaker, my task this morning is a simple one which is to formally welcome you as head of this important legislative organ of State, the Parliament of Ghana, to the First Sitting of the First Meeting of the Second Session of the Eighth
Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana. I would like to wish you well and to assure you that we would support your efforts to strengthen Parliament, and to deepen our values and democratic ethos to serve the people of Ghana well and to, responsibly, where necessary, support Government to work to improve the quality of life of Ghanaians.
Mr Speaker, I would want to
assure you that while welcoming
you, we would want demonstrable
respect to the principles and values
of the 1992 Constitution and the
Standing Orders of the Parliament
of Ghana.

I would also like to use this

opportunity to wish you a happy

and a prosperous new year, and

to welcome the Hon First and

Second Deputy Speakers, the

Hon Majority Leader and his

team, including the Whips

supporting him, the Hon Deputy

Leader and Whips on my Side,

and colleague Hon MPs to the

First Sitting of the First Meeting

of the Second Session of the

Eighth Parliament, and to wish

them well.

Mr Speaker, you would note

that Parliament adjourned sine

die in a manner that Ghanaians

were unhappy about. We were

resisting the oppressor's rule and requested strict adherence to the

letter and spirit of the 1992

Constitution and the Standing

Orders of Parliament of Ghana

as to what a Speaker or a person

presiding can and cannot do.

Mr Speake, we know that in

established democracies such as

the United Kingdom, from where

we have borrowed, the person

presiding does not exercise

original or casting vote. That is

our view. This is not a forum to

resolve it, but I am explaining that

we should endeavour to resolve

these matters with civility and

decorum.

Mr Speaker, I did not think

that it should get rancorous or

acrimonious or even result in

physical exchanges. That is

unbecoming of us as Hon MPs

and I am not sure our children

and young Ghanaians would

want to learn that this is what

happens in the Parliament of

Ghana, and so we would all

endeavour to restrain our Hon

Colleagues. Hon Colleagues

should be guided and let

Parliament remain a forum

where right and wrong are

debated and right, not

partisanship, prevails. We

should endeavour to coalesce

around what is right in the

interest of Ghanaians and not

partisanship. This must remain a

forum for debate.

Mr Speaker, what happened

was ugly, and many people and

civil society organisations -- I am sure the Christian Council of

Ghana and the National Peace

Council have all engaged in

order to call Leadership to

moderate the conduct of our Hon

Members. Let us maintain the

honour and dignity of Hon MPs

even as we endeavour to

preserve and ensure respect for

the Constitution and the

Standing Orders of Parliament.

Mr Speaker, it should not get to

that ugliness.

Mr Speaker, I should engage

even the Christian Council and

other church groups which have

all asked for peace and, through

you, we would have to convey to

Ghanaians that this Parliament

would not lose focus of its

primary and onerous obligation

to them, and that we would

exercise that mandate with

candour, decorum and respect

for the dignity and honour of one

another.

Mr Speaker, the Vice

President and some Ministers

have been to Appiatse, the

mining community in the

Western Region where the

explosion occurred. Some

supports have been extended and

some premature decisions have

been taken while investigations

are yet to commence on the

matter. We would want to

convey our hearty condolences

to the families of those who lost

their lives, and to pray for good

health for those who are

recovering, and to pray

Government to deal with this as

a national emergency and

mobilise appropriate resources,

not promises, for the people of

Appiatse, especially their

immediate resettlement for the

restoration of deserved

livelihoods for the people there.

When we travel there, we would

also know the state of roads in

that area.

Mr Speaker, as I said, this is

to wish you, the Clerk-to-

Parliament and staff of the

Parliamentary Service, a happy

and prosperous new year and to

say that we would work with you

to make Parliament more

accountable and more

transparent to serve the people of

Ghana better.

Thank you.

Majority Leader (Mr Osei

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu): Thank

you, Mr Speaker, for the

opportunity to add my voice to

also welcome Hon Members to

this Second Session of the

Eighth Parliament.

Mr Speaker, I must admit,

just as the Hon Minority Leader

did, that we did not end the Third

Meeting of the First Session on a

good note, and I would want to

believe that the recess period has

given ample time for us to reflect

on the issues of the Third

Meeting.

Mr Speaker, in the affairs of

humankind, it is a societal

improvement norm to reflect on

one's life cyclically to improve upon performance. We

adjourned on rather acrimonious

circumstances on 20th

December, 2021 after we had

held 33 Meetings within a nine-

week period.

Mr Speaker, admitting that

the conduct of Hon MPs on the

days leading to adjournment sine

die was inappropriate, and I

think the better thing to do is to

once again apologise to the good

people of this country for the

conduct that Hon Members put

up in this House.

Mr Speaker, I agree with the

Hon Minority Leader that this is

a House of debate, and we debate

from informed positions from

the knowledge that we have

acquired. This is the space that

we provide ourselves to engage

in brainpower and not the

display of brawn and so this is

where we are heading towards as

a Parliament. Mr Speaker, I

believe it is shameful and

embarrassing, and we must

admit it. The last week when

these things happened, we had

had a delegation from, I think,

Rwanda, which had come to

understudy what we have been

doing in Ghana. What images

would they take back home?

Mr Speaker, Ghana is

recognised, at least, in

parliamentary democracy in

Africa as one of the leading

lights. That is why we have been

attracting delegations from

Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia,

Uganda, South Africa, and

Sierra Leone.

In the previous Meeting, we

had three delegations from these

countries, and we put up such

displays. What are they to report

on when they go back home? Mr

Speaker, it is dent, not only on

the image of us Hon MPs, but

also on the image of Ghana's

Parliament, which is headed by

your good self.

To the extent that we are seen

as a leading light in Africa, it

inflicts a mortal wound on the

image of Ghana because on the

African continent, Ghana is cited

as the beacon of democracy. At

world level, Ghana is held in

high esteem as representing a

star in Africa. So, when these

things happen, they inflict a

wound on the image of Africa.

Cynics would say that nothing

good can come from Africa, and

yet we have made good

advances in our democracy.

Mr Speaker, that is why it is

important for us to do serious

introspection on this, and we

should stand up because in the

lead up to reconvening, I heard

some Hon Members go on air to

say that what happened

previously was child's play and that Parliament of Ghana would

witness greater atrocities. One

person went out there to say, if

we have to kill people in this

House, we will do so. That is a

most outrageous statement from

somebody who calls himself an

MP -- [Uproar] -- so, let us confront reality.

Mr Speaker, the Leader of the

Minority has related to the

defence of the Constitution and

the rule of procedure in this

House. Those, as I recollect, Hon

J. H. Mensah said some time ago

that in this House, we have two

main documents to work with:

the rules of procedure, our

Standing Orders and the

Constitution. So, it is good to

resolve to defend and live by the

Constitution and the Standing

Orders.

Mr Speaker, my Hon

Colleague cited the case of

voting rights that is accorded to

Speakers. I can also inform you

that in jurisdictions where MPs

are Speakers, they are all

accorded voting rights, except in

cases where they are not given

original voting rights, they are

granted casting votes. I can cite

the case of the provincial

legislatures of Canada and

Australia, and the Federal

Parliaments of Canada,

Australia, and Malaysia. All the

state legislatures in the United

States of America, South Africa

and in Commonwealth countries

like India, Speakers are granted

voting rights so we cannot be

oblivious of this.

As I conclude Mr Speaker, we

proceeded on Christmas

holidays, and for us Christians,

Christmas represents the birth of

Jesus Christ, which marks a

period of reconciliation between

God and humankind. I believe

that when we went on recess, we

did considerable reflection on

what happened and we have

listened to major stakeholders in

this country, including the

Christian community - the

Ghana Pentecostal and

Charismatic Council, the

Catholic Bishops' Conference,

and the other leaders of

Christendom and we have

pledged because so many people

have called on us to engage in

greater consensus building and

reconciliation. That is what we

have to do. Given the

circumstances of our times, we

can only work to expand the

horizon of consensus building

and indeed, carry everybody on

board.

Mr Speaker, having said that,

this Meeting is likely to travel to

8th April, 2022, the Friday which

precedes Good Friday which

would be 15th April, 2022. We

would have to provide ourselves

with adequate space to do

considerable work. We have a

tall Order of Business, so let us

brace ourselves up to what we

have to do.

Mr Speaker, as representatives of

the people, I share the opinion

expressed by the Hon Minority

Leader that we must find time to

console and condole with the

residents and citizens of Appiatse in

the Western Region. I know the

National Disaster Management

Organisation (NADMO) has been

there and the Vice President has been

to the scene. The Minister for Roads

and Highways just whispered to me

this morning that the place has

been cut-off, and a detour has

been done, but it cannot be

permanent. What must be done

to liberate the people must be

done as early as possible.

Mr Speaker, in the meantime,

I have also seen your own

communication to the people. I

believe that Parliament would

have to join ranks with you to see

what little assistance that we,

apart from the expression of

empathy, could extend to the

distressed community at

Appiatse.

I would want to plead and

entreat our Clerks-at-the-Table

and the Clerk to Parliament, and

also the press corps to be

collaborative in the performance

of our duties as a House. I

believe that we would begin on a

clean slate and work to improve

the lot of us and that of the

Ghanaian people that we

Hon Members,
before I give my message, it is
important I recognise the
presence of the Deputy
Government Chief Whip of the
National Assembly of Zambia in
the House.[Hear! Hear!] It is
my pleasure to introduce her to
you and to the good people of
Ghana since she is on a study
visit which would last for five
days. She is in the person of Hon
Princess Kusane. She is here to
interact with her counterparts,
learn best practices and
exchange ideas on issues which
relate to the handling of the
Whips' Office.
The visit is also intended to
create a platform for networking
between Hon Members and our
Zambian counterparts with the
aim of deepening relations
between the two Legislatures.

The Hon Princess Kasune is

accompanied by two officials of

the National Assembly of

Zambia. I would want her to

stand up to be recognised by all

of you again. [Hon Princess

Kasune gets up] - [Hear! Hear!] You have seen how gorgeously

she is attired.The other two

officials of the National

Assembly of Zambia are Mr

Tennieson Nyangu, Principal

Clerk, Journals and Table Office

and Mrs Cynthia M. Chibale, a

Senior International Relations

Hon Members, on behalf of

this House, I welcome them, and

wish them a fruitful deliberations

and a pleasant stay in our beautiful

country. You are most welcome.

Hon Members, I took note of

the privilege given the Hon

Leaders of this House to give

welcome remarks, and their

penchant to veer into very

controversial areas. However,

that is a signal of what we all

expect and I believe that as they

stated, we would turn over a new

leaf of life in the House.

Hon Members,
today marks the First Sitting of
the First Meeting of the Second
Session of the Eighth Parliament
of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.
It is my pleasure and privilege to
welcome you all to this Meeting
from the short yuletide recess.
I acknowledge the hectic but
joyous time that you had with
your constituents, and I know
from experience, how stressful it
has been for you to tour your
constituencies. Hon ladies and
gentlemen, I would want to take
this opportunity to commend
you highly for discharging a
crucial duty of an MP to reach
out, interact and explain
Government policies and their
impact and effect on the people
and the country.
While performing this duty,
you also listened to the concerns
and views of the people, and in
fact, tapped from the collective
wisdom of the constituents that
you voluntarily and willingly
decided to lead to make their
lives better. I am sure that you
are now renewed and energised
by the expectations, hopes and
aspirations of the people that you
represent.
In doing this, you also
demonstrated a practical aspect
of a perspective of the
representative function of
Parliament, and why the MP is
referred to as “a representative
of the constituency and the
people”. You represent the
people, and this House also
represents the people. Therefore,
I would want to take this
opportunity to say ayekoo, yɛ
garibanye, miawoe le do dzi, san
da kookari and aha-nyē koo; to
wit, well done all of you.
Several Hon Members: Yaa
yei.

You may add
the rest.
Hon Members, as leaders of
your people, you need to be
supported to perform this function
effectively and ethically to inspire
many more up and coming youth to
be motivated to see politics as an
honourable career or profession.
This underscores the urgency for
the provision of offices, not the
use of private residences as we
have now, the provision of open,

lawful and verifiable sources of

funding, not funding from

opaque sources or money bags,

and the support of technical

staff, not party apparatchiks or

activists only. You need these to

assist you in the performance of

this arduous duty, unless we are

not interested in ethical

governance, which is premised

on open, transparent and

accountable leadership.

Hon Members, this is the

Parliament of Ghana. It is a

unique made-in-Ghana product,

and we must showcase and

market it to the world as a brand.

We must create a unique set of

values and norms that would

give a unique character to our

Parliament to set it apart from

the colonial legacies of the

British system.

My outfit today, as the Hon

Speaker and presiding officer, is

to set in motion that agenda.

[Hear! Hear!] The practice of

MPs decently dressed in

traditional attire led by the Rt

Hon Speaker is long overdue.

[Hear! Hear!] Ghanaians accept

representation of the people to

include representation of the full

identity of the Ghanaian culture,

tradition and more importantly,

their dress code.

I am glad that this decision

accords with some of the

propositions of the first

President of Ghana, Dr Kwame

Nkrumah, and the other

founding members of the

Parliament of the First Republic.

The dominant dress code of

members of the National

Assembly of independent Ghana

was native costume, but I do not

know where we got it wrong.

The Speaker of the First

Parliament of the First Republic

of the Country - 1960 to 1965 -

the Rt Hon Joseph Richard

Asiedu appreciated and in fact,

practiced it. And people could

cross-check from history.

Hon Members, the robe, that

is the long gown, the headgear

and bib, constitute the

ceremonial dress of the Speaker.

We inherited it from the British.

This ceremonial dress was worn

to distinguish the Speaker from

Members and to reflect the pomp

and pageantry of special national

occasions. It was therefore

meant to be worn on only those

special occasions. The

ceremonial dress is not meant to

be a daily apparel of the Speaker.

Even the British had long

abandoned this dress code.

Ghana has long abandoned only

the headgear and the bib.

Hon Members, I assure you,

we are not on a walk in the park

in this matter. We are not in a

walk in a journey of renaissance

and transformation alone. We

will not walk alone in this

matter. We have a lot of

followers and supporters in this

matter. It is in this regard that I

happily invite all of you to wear

Ghana, grow Ghana, eat Ghana,

brand Ghana, and transform

Ghana. [Hear! Hear!] From

now on, I want to see more Hon

Members appear in Parliament

decently adorned in traditional

dress. [Hear! Hear!] I actually

had taken note long ago of some

Hon Members in the House who

have already practiced it for a

long time. I think some Hon

Members will see me to change

from yesteryears.

Hon Members, I call on you

to dig deep into the wealth of

your innate wisdom and let us do

this together in peace, joy, love

and respect for the diversity of

cultures, traditions and ways of

dressing in the country. All I

have to tell the leaders,

particularly the Whips, led by

my good self is to enforce the

dress code of being prime,

prompt and decent in appearance

in the House.

Hon Members, since this

Meeting commences the second

year of the implementation of

the decision of the 2020 general

elections of a hung Parliament,

and in view of the challenges we

encountered in the First Session,

I deem it necessary to take this

opportunity to throw more light

on the need for Ghanaians to be

more tolerant to what happens in

Parliament and to appreciate the

essence of that decision. Later in

the course of the week, I will

provide an opportunity for us to

do a review of our performance

in the First Session of this

Parliament which is 2021.

Hon Members, beloved

Ghanaians, the results of the

2020 elections brought a new

order of political engagements.

In effect, the character and

norms of the power game

changed, especially, in

Parliament. The ultra-

majoritarian rule, where the

Majority party marshals its

numerical strength to back the

Presidents' policy or programme, leaving no space

for dialogue, compromise and

consensus building is no more.

The outcome of the elections

signifies two things; firstly, a

rejection of the practice of blind,

unbridled and excessive

partisanship in politics, the

winner-takes-all option, which is

a significant change; and

secondly, blind, partisan

opposition and obstruction of

government policy. That too,

yamutu! To wit. It is dead.

[Laughter] The preference

according to Ghanaians is for the

practice of dialogue,

coordination, cooperation,

consultation, compromise and

consensus building. The clarion

call of our dear nation today, is

now Ghana first, everything else

second. Not party first; not

Government first; not

Opposition first; not Speaker

first but Ghana first.

Hon Members, the product of

a hung Parliament marks a clear

departure from the mantle “let the Minority have its say, and the

Majority its way.” Hon Members, I am watching those

of you who have decided to

constitute yourselves into groups

to converse and not to listen to

the Speaker. -- [Pause] --

Hon Members, this House is

meant for serious business. I

believe in ultimate responsibility

and even though all these things

happened, I was not in the Chair.

Those who were in the Chair

were only exercising delegated

authority. The ultimate person

responsible is me the Speaker,

and I take responsibility. That is

why earlier, I kept apologising to

the good people of Ghana. With

that ultimate responsibility, I

would not only use the carrot but

I would also crack the whip.

Hon Members, democracy

has long gone beyond majority

rule to participatory and

inclusive governance - a type of governance where both the

Majority and Minority will have

their say, but the national interest

will have its way. I think

Ghanaians are right to move

along with this improved system

of governance and I believe that

is the future of democratic

governance in the world. In fact,

this decision gave Ghana a pride

of place in the celebration to

mark the 60th Anniversary of

diplomatic relations with

Denmark. I had the singular

honour to participate in a global

panel discussion on the topic,

“Inclusive Party Governance and the Future of Democracy” as part of the celebration. The

commendation of that decision

was taken note of during that

virtual discussion and Ghana

was highly placed. Let us not

belittle that achievement, neither

should we blot the shine that the

people have bestowed on this

country.

Hon Members, we should

not also forget that this is in tune

with the spirit and letter of the

1992 Constitution. The 1992

Constitution creates an

opportunity for either a Majority

or a Minority government or

even an opportunity for an

independent President to rule

this country. So, if we are going

by Majority rule, and you elect

an independent President, it

means that you have no rule. If

we are going by the Majority

rule, and we have a President

with minority or Members of

Parliament, it means that there

would be no rule. That is not

what is encapsulated in the 1992

Constitution. The concept of

governance that we opted for is

to create room not for Minority

or Majority rule, but for

participatory and inclusive

governance.

It is important that as a people

and nation, we take serious note

of these possibilities and work

on the current state of our mind

sets, conduct and attitude, to

accept any of these decisions of

the electorates whenever it is so

decided. Unfortunately, teething

problems and challenges of

definition of the concept and

practice of such a system and

applying the current rules to a

new order will rear their ugly

heads. In the remarks of the

Leaders, our attention was

drawn to some of the grey areas

of interpretation of the existing

laws, both constitutional and the

Standing Orders of the House.

Hon Members, fellow

Ghanaians, these ugly heads

would definitely produce

friction and uncertainty in the

initial stages. These transitional

problems and challenges should

not deter us as a people and

country from doing what is right

and just for the country. What is

right, as enjoined by Chapter 6

of the 1992 Constitution is the

Directive Principles of State

Policy, which is to establish and

practice a just, balanced, open,

transparent, free and fair

governance. That is what can

create a just and free society.

The country can only achieve this when Parliament matures into an autonomous organ of State, able to define its relationship with the Executive as one of equal and coordinate powers of Government. This is the only way to sustain, consolidate and secure multiparty democracy in Ghana. It is only there and then that the dividends of democracy could accrue and seep down to the ordinary Ghanaian. Hon Members, please let us take note of the speedy decline of

Hon Members, we all understand the saying that old habits die hard. These habits develop into a way of life and a culture and it takes a long time to change cultures. So, I believe with time, focus and determination, all these habits will give way and instead of any of us having our way, the national interest would have its way. The saying that “I am in Government and I must have my way”, the saying that “I am in opposition and I am to oppose Government” shall pass.

It is important for the political elite to understand the democratic politics as a process encompassing a variety of interests, and requiring cooperation, compromises and consensus to be arrived at through bargaining so that at all times, decisions will be made in the framework of broad coalition.

Professor Nixon drew our

attention to a book written by

him on these matters a long time

ago. Those who have read the

book would definitely confirm

what I have said. However, I

want to assure all of you that I

have so much confidence in the

commitment of the Ghanaian to

democratic governance, and I

know the will power and the can

do spirit of the Ghanaian would

see us through. I am optimistic

that these teething challenges

would be turned into

opportunities sooner than later.

Apart from what I have just

said let us always keep in mind

that one cannot sow what is

wrong and reap what is right.

One reaps what one sows.

Again, I would want to repeat

this cliché that whatever you do,

you do it for yourself. These are

all natural truisms. Whatever

you say or do as an Hon Member

or as an Hon Leader, be guided

by these natural and divine

determinants of life.

It is also important to

acknowledge that in the midst of

the teething challenges of

disharmony and discord,

Parliament has given a clear

indication to take advantage of

the opportunities offered by a

hung Parliament. It has to be

clear to Ghanaians by now that

Parliament has taken some steps

to claw back a bit of its lost

image and brand as a willing tool

of the Executive. This gives a

glimmer of hope that Parliament

would not continue to be in the

belly or a rubber stamp of the

Executive. It is not just about

this Eighth Parliament but it is

about Parliaments that would be

after this one. So, whether you

are on the right or left Side of the

aisle, you would be seen as part

of governance and inclusiveness

in the sharing of the national

cake. The unique architecture

that the Almighty God

graciously gifted to the country

through the Eighth Parliament of

the Fourth Republic must be

appreciated by all lovers of

democracy. Let us give the hung

Parliament a chance. [Hear!

Clearly, there is no

opportunity now for a roaring

and tumultuous Majority vote

which sometimes gets it

catastrophically wrong, neither

is there an opportunity to be an

obstructionist opposition. The

unique composition of 137 Hon

Members apiece with equal

numbers in terms of the gender

distribution of 117 males and 20

females on each Side of the

House and just one Independent

Hon Member altering the

equation, gives this Parliament a

unique membership structure

Indeed. It is with this I call on

beloved Ghanaians to know that

we have no choice than to

comply with the dictates and

consequences of the new order

which comes with such a

composition. Indeed, it captures

one of the four important

traditional insignia of the

Parliamentary logo. Many of

you look at the logo but you do

not observe it properly. It has

four traditional insignia. My Twi

language is not too good but I

know one of them is referred to

as Akofena, the state ceremonial

swords which symbolises

balance of power, political and

legal authority and legitimacy.

That is one of the insignia of our

parliamentary logo and this is

what has been reflected in the

composition of this Parliament.

What else do you want?

Hon Members, another area

the Eighth Parliament has shown

a bright light is the vigorous

implementation of the decision

of the Seventh Parliament of the

Fourth Republic to permit the

introduction of Private Members

Bills (PMBs). This, indeed is

and has been a welcome

development. I am very

encouraged with how Hon

Members have seriously taken

advantage of this opportunity

and are submitting draft Bills in

various areas of our lives for my

admission and reference to the

Legislative Drafting Department

to process for further action. I

commend and urge Hon

Members to continue to identify

these challenges or

shortcomings and assist us to

create a legal regime for the

country and to proffer solutions

through the initiation and

sponsorship of PMBs. Under my

leadership and the support of the

Parliamentary Service,

Parliament would continue to

provide the requisite logistical

and technical support to such

Private Members' initiatives.

Hon Members, this is one of

the reasons Parliament must

quicken its efforts to create an

enabling environment for civil

society actors to engage and

partner Parliament in the

performance of its functions,

while it takes the necessary

action to reform, restructure,

strengthen and empower itself. It

is with this commitment that I

once more call on and invite civil

society and private sector leaders

to assist Parliament in the

formulation of an acceptable

framework on how to formally

engage and partner in the

performance of its functions.

It is crucial for Ghanaians to

know that democracy is not a

determinant of just politicians

and officials in Government but

a collective product of the

leadership of political, social,

private and academia in

collaboration with the people.

This is how democratic societies

are created and I am happy that

the call of His Excellency the

President, Nana Addo Dankwa

Akufo-Addo is that we should

not just be spectators but

citizens, and this is the right call

and that must be taken seriously.

Hon Members, in view of the

way the First Session of the

Eighth Parliament of the Fourth

Republic ended without the

closing remarks of the Co-

Leaders and the Speaker, I direct

that the Hansard Department

should receive the written

closing remarks of the Co-

Leaders and capture them as so

presented.

I would also attach my

closing remarks to this

Statement and same should be

captured in the Official Report of

Parliament as so presented. I so

direct.

The lessons of the First

Session have been learnt by all

of us and we should all pledge

not to see a repeat of those

violent nasty scenes as well as

pledge to defend and uphold the

image of Parliament. I am happy

that the Leaders have taken the

lead to apologise on behalf of

this House to the good people of

Ghana and to pledge that we

would sin no more.

To achieve this, I will,

together with my Deputies and

leadership, hold Hon Members

to strict adherence to the rules,

ethics, courtesies, and codes of

conduct of Hon Members of

Parliament. We will work to

promote orderly behaviour and

the use of decent parliamentary

language in the deliberations of

this House. We would now not

be waiting for you to be raising

points of orders, and any of us

presiding would, at any time,

call Members to order when you

use unparliamentary language.

I can assure you that more

efforts will be put into

organising fora and workshops

to enlighten Hon Members on

these rules, norms and ethics of

civil behaviour and conduct

during parliamentary

deliberations. Parliament would

do all it can to create the

environment for a collective

effort to educate and inculcate

the culture of a democratic

society in this country. I

reiterate the need for Hon

Members to constantly refer to

the literature and publications of

this House on these matters and

interact with their constituents

on these values and principles of

good behaviour and conduct.

I once more warmly welcome

all of you from the recess to the

Second Session of the Eighth

Parliament of the Fourth

Republic of Ghana.

May the Almighty God in

whom I have most trust continue

to bless Ghana and all Ghanaians

and I wish you all a productive

and fulfilling Session. Thank

you for your patience, endurance

and listening ear.

Thank you so much.

Hon Members, we would

now move to the item numbered

4 - Correction of Votes and

Proceedings and the Official

Report.

Votes and Proceedings and

the Official Report

Hon Members,
any corrections to the Votes and
Proceedings of Tuesday, 21st
December, 2021?
Page 1 —

Table Office,
take note.
Page 2 …9 -
Hon Members, the Votes and
Proceedings of the 34th Sitting
held on Tuesday, 21st December,
2021 as presented and corrected
are hereby adopted as the true
record of proceedings.
Hon Members, any
corrections to the Official Report
of Thursday, 9th December,
2021? Has it not been circulated
to Hon Members? Yes, Hon
Ablakwa?

Mr Speaker,
thank you very much -

I wanted to
know whether Hon Members
actually have copies?

Mr Speaker,

Yes?

Mr Speaker,
the “Google Play Store and
App” store should be “App
store” and not “Apps Store” as
has been captured here. There is
no such thing as “Apps store”.

Table Office,
kindly take note. Anything
further?

Mr Speaker,
the proper rendition for what is
captured at the last paragraph of
page 16 under the name of the
Hon Minister for Education is

Table Office,
kindly take note and delete
accordingly. Any further
corrections?

Mr Speaker,
finally, at page 20, the first
paragraph under transfer of basic
school teachers before the use of
‘'B. E. C. E'', this should be
about the fourth paragraph at
page 20. The spelling of
‘'Special Basic Schools'' has
been captured wrongly. Instead
of ‘s-p-e-c-i-a-l', we have it spelt
as follows “p-p-e-c-i-a-l”. We
have ‘special schools in Ghana'.

Yes, I have
seen that it is the work of the
printer's devil. Table Office, note that and delete the letter ‘p'. Any further corrections? I can
see the Hon Member of
Parliament for Kwadaso.

Mr Speaker,
at the second paragraph on page
19, the appropriate word should
be ‘evasive'. That is … “the Hon Minister has been very
invasive”. It should read, “the Hon Minister has been very
evasive”.
That is the second paragraph
of page 19.

You are right.
Table Office, take note.
Any further corrections?
Hon Members, in the absence
of any further corrections, the
Official Report of Thursday, 9th
December, 2021, is hereby
adopted as the true record of
proceedings.

Hon Members,
we now move to the item
numbered 5 on the Order Paper
which deals with the
presentation of the Business
Statement for the first week of
our Sitting by the Hon Chairman
of the Business Committee.

Hon Members, with

apologies, it looks like it is after

2 o'clock and we should have

given notice of extension of our

Sitting beyond the normal

prescribed hours, which with

your kind indulgence, I so direct

that Parliament should Sit

beyond the prescribed Sitting

hours.

The Chairman can now

comfortably present the

Business Statement to the

House.

Hon Members,
you have heard the Chairman of
the Business Committee in the
person of the Leader of
Government Business. This is
the time for you to make your
comments on the Report.

Mr
Speaker, I am most grateful.

Mr Speaker, there is a

preliminary concern - the

nomenclature of the Minister for

Parliamentary Affairs appears to

have changed. I see here

“Minister-Leader and Leader of

the House”. Has he become the

Hon Minister for all Ministers or

is it a North Korean kind of title

that the Hon Majority Leader

now has? The Hon Majority

Leader shocked all of us when he

said that we have technically

approved the e-Levy. I do not

know if there have been some

technical changes to his position

as he is now Minister-Leader

and no longer Minister for

Parliamentary Affairs? We

would like to know what is

happening.

Mr Speaker, on the more

substantive matter, the Hon

Majority Leader gives us an

indication that the Message on

the State of the Nation will be

presented by His Excellency the

President during this Meeting,

but he stays away from specifics.

Is the Hon Majority Leader able

to give us a more specific

indication, so that we can

prepare ourselves accordingly?

Finally, Mr Speaker, I also

observed, that the Business

Statement is silent on very

important Motions that you have

duly admitted. For example,

work has already been done on

the Sputnik-V probe, and the

final decision is pending, but the

Business Statement is silent on

that. Motions such as the

Frontiers Healthcare Services

matter which requires a probe,

recruitment into security

agencies, and the COVID-19

expenditure probe et cetera.

There are quite a number of

them, at least, about eight(8)

Private Members' Motions which call for bipartisan

investigations and which the Rt.

Hon Speaker has approved, but

none of these appeared in the

Business Statement.

Is the Hon Majority Leader

able to explain why the Business

Statement is silent on those

important Motions?

Mr Suhuyini Alhassan

Sayibu: Mr Speaker, thank you

very much. I would take this

opportunity to commend the

Business Committee for coming

up with the programme for the

week within the short time that

they met.

Mr Speaker, I am, however,

worried that the Business for the

week is silent on a disaster that

the nation is currently recovering

from - the explosion at Bogoso. This House needs to be apprised

with how that happened and how

the nation is catering for the

casualties that have arisen as a

result of this blast. The pictures

and the videos we see on our

screens are heart-breaking. If the

Hon Minister for Lands and

Natural Resources with

oversight on mining, the Hon

Minister for the Interior, and the

Minister for Environment,

Science, Technology and

Innovation are not prepared to

brief the House, I would urge the

Business Committee to schedule

them to take this as a public

interest matter that the people of

Ghana deserve to be briefed on,

and for us to be assured of the

steps that are being taken to

ameliorate the suffering of the

people in Bogoso.

Mr Speaker, I would

therefore wish that the Business

Committee —

Hon Member,
an extensive Statement would be
made on that issue this morning,
so just hold your fire because
you would get the opportunity to
comment on it.

Mr Speaker, then
I would hold my fire and
possibly contribute to the
Statement when it is made. I
would make an appeal for some
investigation by this House into
the circumstances that led to the
accident.

Hon Members,
I would listen to Hon Dr Okoe
Vanderpuije and then I can come
back to — Is that Hon Edward Bawa? - Oh, I see. I think that the recess did some good job of
trimming your body.
Yes, Hon Dr Okoe Vanderpuije?
Dr Alfred Okoe
Vanderpuije: Mr Speaker, I
stand to seek your guidance on a
matter. During the last Meeting,
I made a Statement on the Floor
on the numerous attacks that
have been meted out to operators
of the Mobile Money Business
(MoMo), which was supported
by several Members of this
House. The Statement was
referred to the Committee on
Defence and Interior, but no
report has come on that situation.
I would seek your guidance as to
what to expect, because citizens
are affected; some of them were
killed in the numerous attacks,
and our people would want to
know what this House would do
for the situation they find
themselves in and on their
businesses.

Mr
Speaker, I just need some
clarification from the Hon
Majority Leader on page 2, item
numbered 5, on the Electronic
Transfer Levy Bill, 2021. The
first paragraph seems to suggest
that the Bill has not been passed,
but the Hon Majority Leader has
been quoted by the Daily Guide
of 21st January, 2022, as saying
that the Bill has been technically
approved. I would want him to
reconcile the two. The Hon
Majority Leader is the same
person who said that and he is
also the Chairman of the

Business Committee. We should

be able to reconcile the two, so

that we are sure of where we are.

Alhaji Mohammed-

Mubarak Muntaka: Mr

Speaker, on page 2 of the

Business Statement, item

numbered 5, on the Electronic

Transfer Levy Bill, 2021, the

Chairman of the Business

Committee has indicated that the

Hon Minister for Finance is

seeking to get ample time to go

and further consult.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

state that throughout this period

of recess, the Minority side were

never consulted or talked to

about the e-Levy Bill. At the

meeting of the Finance

Committee, the Minority side

requested that as part of the

practice of this House and

supported by the 1992

Constitution and the Standing

Orders, we should open up for

people to bring memoranda for

the engagement, but they said

there was no time.

Now, we are giving time to

the Hon Minister for Finance at

his request. We are to wait for

him to do consultation, but we

cannot even give this House the

time to consult.

Mr Speaker, I would want to

make reference to the 1992

Constitution, precisely article

106(4), which I would want to

read with your permission. It

stipulate, and I quote:

“Whenever a bill is read the first time in Parliament, it

shall be referred to the

appropriate committee

appointed under article 103 of

this Constitution which shall

examine the bill in detail and

make all such inquiries in

relation to it as the Committee

considers expedient or

necessary.”

Mr Speaker, this article is also

supported by Standing Order

125, which is just a verbatim

lifting of what is in article

106(4). The House of Parliament

cannot get time to do

consultation, but the Minister of

Finance is allowed a whole week

to go and do his own

consultation and come and

report to the House what he has

seen or heard. Why would the

Business Committee equally not

make time for this House and,

for that matter the Finance

Committee, to engage the

public? That is how we carry

bills in this House.

Mr Speaker, when the anti-

Gay bill (Promotion of Proper

Human Sexual Rights and

Ghanaian Family Values Bill)

came to this House, even when

we wanted it to be fast-tracked,

the Committee called people in

fives to be heard, and the people

repeated the same points simply

because the Government was not

interested, and they delayed the

passage of that Bill. Now, with

this e-Levy Bill, 2021, we are

saying that they should give time

for proper consultation because

it would affect more people.

However, with this one, the

House cannot do the

consultation, but the Finance

Minister can get time to do

further consultation.

Mr Speaker, it is this attitude

that creates the unnecessary

tension and the unnecessary

behaviours that we all see, which

we all condemn. We should all

do what is right so that it would

be easier to go along with the

people of our country instead of

these tricks of some people

thinking that they are smarter

than others. When everybody

plans and strategises, it creates a

problem. So, let us do it as is

always done in the House. That

is the only way we can get sanity

to go together in the approval or

disapproval of this.

[Interruption].

Mr Speaker, with these

comments, I would want to urge

that this House should make

time for the Finance Committee

to also consult. The Hon

Minister for Finance should not

be the only one to be allowed to

consult. This would enable the

Minister of Finance and the

Finance Committee to compare

whatever they are hearing from

the civil society or our citizenry,

and that would help inform the

decision that this House would

take. With these comments, I

hope that the Business

Committee would make time for

the House to further consult.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very

much.

Hon Minority
Leader, let me allow the Hon
Majority Chief Whip to make a
comment before I come to you.

Mr
Speaker, with respect to my Hon
Colleague, I took time to listen
to him. In the latter part of his
presentation, I heard him use the
word “tricks”. I think that it is out of place, and he knows best.
Nobody is in this Chamber to
engage in tricks, so he should
just depart from that word. He
should stay clear of a word like
“tricks” because it is unparliamentary. I insist that he
retracts the word “tricks”.

Hon Minority
Chief Whip, your attention has
been drawn to the use of the
word “tricks” in your presentation, which according to
the appreciation of
parliamentary language is
unparliamentary. What would
you say to that?

Mr
Speaker, I have no problem
withdrawing the use of the word
“tricks”, but to say that we need to be sincere in all the actions
that both Sides of the House take
for the good of this House.
Therefore, without any problem,
I withdraw the use of the word
“tricks” that my Hon Colleague drew my attention to.

Yes, I would
call on the Hon Minister for
Communications.
Minister for Communication
(Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful): Mr
Speaker, I distinctly remember
that during the conclusion of the
debate on the 2022 Budget
Statement, the Hon Finance
Minister asked and prayed this
House to be given time to
consult both Sides of the House
in view of the views that had
been expressed during the
debate. The Hon Speaker put the
matter to vote, and the Minority
side of the House voted
unanimously against giving the
Finance Minister time to consult
them on the issues that had
arisen out of the 2022 Budget
Statement. I am therefore
surprised that they are now
seeking to be given the
opportunity to consult or to be
consulted on the E-Levy, and on
other matters arising from the
consideration of the 2022
Budget. They have indicated

clearly, as is recorded in the

proceedings of the House on that

day, that they are not interested

or desirous on being consulted

on any matter to do with the

passage of the 2022 Budget

Statement. So, why this sudden

about-turn? I would like them to

explain to the good people of

Ghana why it is so?

Hon Minister
for Communications, the issue
that has been raised is that when
a matter is presented to the
House and referred to the
Committee, it is the Committee
that should be enabled to
continue to do consultations of
the civil society and whatever
stakeholders to assist them in the
preparation of the report for the
House for consideration. The
Committee that we referred the
issue to was the Finance
Committee, but they were not
enabled to do the consultation.
However, the sponsor of the Bill
- [Interruption] - I am just summarising what was
submitted. The Hon Member
was therefore thinking that it is
not the Minister for Finance who
sponsored the Bill, that he would
be given time to do the
consultation of stakeholders. He
thinks that the Committee on
Finance should be the proper
instrument to be used by the
House to do the consultation.
That is the issue that the Hon
Member raised,- [Interruption] - Hon Members, please. As to whether the consultation being
done by the Hon Minister of
Finance prevents the Finance
Committee from doing its
consultation is an issue that we
have to consider.
However, I believe that when
the matter or a matter is referred
to a Committee of the House, the
House can conduct its
investigations, consult
stakeholders and other civil
society actors, but that does not
preclude the Finance Minister
from also doing his consultation.
So, I think that what we would
need to do, which I doubt we
have the time to do now, is to
allow the Committee on Finance
to do the necessary
consultations. However, that
does not stop the Minister for
Finance from doing his
consultations. This is not a
matter open to debate.

2. 28 p. m.

Hon Members, your attitude

and body language will not help

the situation.

Hon Members, I have the list

of your names and I will be

compelled to be naming Hon

Members of Parliament. That

has serious consequences when

an Hon Member of Parliament is

named on the floor of

Parliament, so please let us

exercise restraint and listen to

one another. We have agreed to

disagree. How we conduct

ourselves shows our maturity as

individuals and as a House. We

all agree that we need to work

together and build consensus on

these matters.

Hon Members, if it is a

Government policy and the

Government wants the approval

of the House, has the House not

got the right to inquire into that

policy? So, why do you say that

it is Government policy?

Government policy and so what?

That the House cannot query it,

debate, and support

Government? That process alone

educates the public more.

[Pause]. Hon Members, we are

dealing with the Report from the

Business Committee.

Yes, Hon

Hon Members, you do not do

my work for me.

Yes, Hon Minority Leader?

Mr
Speaker, thank you very much.
I needed to indulge you and the
Chairman of the Business
Committee to make some
observations on the Business
Committees, Report. But once
this matter has been raised by the
Hon Minster for
Communications, I need to put it
right in the record that there is a
clear distinction between
approving Budget Policy
Principles and subjecting a Bill
submitted in accordance with
Article 106 of the Constitution to
the lawful due processes. The
particular day that this Side,
without any regret, stated
strongly that we would not
accommodate any engagement
with the Hon Minister for
Finance, it was on the policy

principles, which meeting was at

your request in your office, to

which we shared our position

before we came here with the

Hon Minister for Finance.

So, that was for the approval

of the entire Budget Statement

with its accompanying

modifications. We even

moderated our position based on

the discussions and

consultations that we so had. So

the Hon Minister for

Communications should take

note that that was about Budget

policy principles when we stated

those issues.

Mr Speaker, before you in

private, and before we came and

engaged here, we indicated to

him that he should come to the

Floor; it is a Budget; we would

state our issues, he would

respond to them, and if they

were satisfactory, we would

thereon proceed. What the Hon

Muntaka seeks to do

[Interruption] — For the abundance of caution, Mr

Speaker, I would like to refer

you to Standing Order 125 and

then come back with article 106,

which is a repeat of Order 125. It

reads:

“Whenever a Bill is read the

Frist Time in the House, it

shall be referred to the

appropriate Committee appointed

under the provisions of

Article 103 of the

Constitution which shall

examine the Bill in detail and

make all such inquiries in

relation to it as the

Committee considers

expedient or necessary.”

For this purpose, a Bill,

Electronic Transfer Levy, was

introduced to this House and

referred to the Finance

Committee of Parliament. And

for emphasis, it does not say the

Hon Minister shall examine the

Bill and make the inquiries. It is

the Committee referred to under

Article 103 of the Constitution,

the Finance Committee of

Parliament that should do so.

So, what the Hon Muntaka is

suggesting is that, it is not right

and appropriate, even if we want

to match the two, that for an e-

Levy which was introduced in

Parliament, we are now being

told that the Hon Minister for

Finance wants to engage. The

Bill is now in our bosom as a

House. In the exercise of our

legislative mandate, is it not

proper that the Finance

Committee would engage the

stakeholders including the

telecommunication companies,

the Fintex Company, the

merchants, the agents?

Mr Speaker, what the

Minority Whip has said, maybe,

our Hon Colleagues should have

appreciated it better. That is

precisely why we had issues

with adopting the procedural

Motion because we all must

appreciate the import of the

Article 106, in particular, the

exemptions under Subclause 13

- the basic requirements. I know what the Constitution says about

financial Bills. If we are

introducing a Bill, Article 106

requires that we gazette it. The

essence of gazetting it is to

ensure that the Ghanaian public

would follow and know that this

Bill would be introduced in

Parliament, and for that matter,

they could make inputs to

support the passage of the Bill

that serves their purpose. When

the Bill is brought under the

certificate of urgency, we seek to

arrest it under Article 106(13),

saying that it should be

considered under a certificate of

urgency; we would not have

time to engage stakeholders.

That is what the Hon Minister

for Finance sought to do with E-

Levy. And that was why he was

arrested from doing it; we

thought that, given the

magnitude of it, the Minister

needed to engage. It is like

passing a Banking Bill overnight

without consulting banks or

passing an Insurance Bill

overnight without consulting

stakeholders within the

insurance industry.

So, Hon Minister for

Communications, get it right; the

Minority Whip cannot be wrong

within the meaning of our

Standing Orders. What he says

is, and we request that in

addition to the Minister for

Finance engaging and

consulting, the Committee on

Finance to which you made the

referral, must also engage the

Ghanaian public, engage the

stakeholders, and engage Fintex

Company to appreciate it. Even

the telecommunication

companies and the Regulator

need to be engaged. The Bank of

Ghana and the NCA must all be

consulted if we understand

electronic money. Mr Speaker,

what the Minority Whip simply

suggests to you is that the

engagement should not be the

sole-activity of the Minister for

Finance and that, our Committee

on Finance is very capable and

clothed to do that. And we

demand that.

Mr Speaker, to my own issues

yesterday, I had to leave the

Board meeting with my Hon

Colleague for the Business

Committee, and so I did not have

the opportunity to deal with this

matter. So I thought that I should

draw his attention to it.

Mr Speaker, the National

Identification Authority (NIA),

as I went home on recess, I

visited my villages as a rural MP

and I went to Adobliyili and

Datoyili in the Tamale South

Constituency. They raised a

legitimate issue, that in that

community, less than 10 or 20

people had the National

Identification Card, and there

were problems even with SIM

card registration. We have heard

the Chief Executive Officer of

the NIA described SIM card

registration as senseless. I will

quote his exact words for the

Hansard. Hon Ablakwa, google

it for me.

Hon Minority
Leader, is this part of your
comments on the Business
Statement?

Yes,
Mr Speaker. So, I demand that
the NIA be hauled before
Parliament and any supervising
Minister to give appropriate and
adequate report on the status of
the National Identification
Exercise - where they have got to, including -[Interruption]-

Mr Speaker, it is even more

important because when this

House was considering the

Budget Estimates of the

Electoral Commission (EC),

probably, Hon Members did not

listen to you when you took

interest in the EC's Report. You kept emphasising two lines:

matters relating to SALL and

matters relating to the creation of

new [Interruption] - but more importantly, in that Report, was

the EC saying that the national

ID card would be the source of a

voter register for the purpose of

future elections? If we do not get

it right, we would puncture our

democracy.

Mr Speaker, on this same

matter, let us go back to the

President's State of the Nation Address. I would paraphrase the

President; he called for the

harmonisation and

synchronisation of data,

including that of the Social

Security and National Insurance

Trust (SSNIT). We need to know

where we are, how much money

has been spent and what has

happened. We need to know and

we are demanding that the

Ministers and whoever is

supervising the institutions are

brought here.

Finally, may I refer Mr

Speaker to article 187 of the

1992 Constitution. I missed

conclave because I was running

from my office. I know that this

matter came up yesterday and I

thought that the Hon Majority

Leader and I would work in

harmony with you. Article 187

(15) which was ably quoted

yesterday at the Board meeting

by Hon Abraham Osei Aidooh

reads:

“(15) The accounts of the office of the Auditor-

General shall be audited

and reported upon by an

auditor appointed by

Parliament.”

Mr Speaker, yesterday, you

said that you would engage

leadership so that we can put a

small Committee in place. This

matter has been pending for too

long and I thought that you

would instruct the leaders to get

a five-member Committee to do

what is appropriate, so that as

Parliament, we get a Committee

to appoint the Auditor to audit

the Auditor-General as is

required of us under Article 187.

Mr Speaker, even though I

have left the matter of the

National Identification

Authority, Dr Kenneth Attafuah

is reported to have said that,

“data from SIM card registration is useless, we are not part of it”. Those are not my words but the

words of the Professor. As a

country, we know that national

identification is an important

exercise. We support it fully but

we want to get it right. Where are

they, including the SIM

registration—?

Hon Minority
Leader, you have made the
point. We are looking at the
Business of the House.

Mr
Speaker, finally, while the
Finance Committee engages, we
would know whether GH¢100
sent via mobile money is taxed.
Mr Speaker, you have to
tolerate me to speak on the e-
levy because it is missing here and
what the Minister for
Communications and Digitalisation
is saying is what is making me
bring it up. Ideally and
ordinarily, the e-levy must have
been part of today's business. It must have been part, what
happened? That was where we
were when the House adjourned,
and so that is why the Hon
Minister must allow us to respect
the Hon Majority Leader and
stop what she is doing.
Ideally, I said. Ideally! So
they should not think that we
have asked for consultation
because we are not. If they want,
they should bring it because we
are ready. They should bring the
e-levy now. That was what they
told us and the Ghanaian people.

Hon Minority
Leader?

Mr
Speaker, I thank you.
Minister for the Interior
(Mr Ambrose Dery): Mr
Speaker, I am the Minister with
supervisory role over the NIA.
The purported disagreement
between Prof. Attafuah and the
Minister for Communications
and Digitalisation is unfounded.
What happened was a distortion
of an earlier communication.
The Prof. came out to make it
clear to me and to the country
that he is in support of the re-
registration of SIM cards and
that he has no opposition to it.
Mr Speaker, I am the Minister
with supervisory jurisdiction
over that and I speak on
authority. This House is a House

Hon Members,
please resume your seats and
listen to the Hon Minister. After
that, if you would want me to
give you the opportunity, I
would do so.

Mr Speaker, I
would ask that this House goes
by the true position as stated by
the Prof to me and to the country,
that what had been
communicated earlier was a
distortion of an earlier technical
correspondence between him
and some other people. The
position now is that the Prof is
solidly behind the SIM re-

Mr Speaker, I think that this

House should be a House where

facts can be found and I do not

have any difficulty if people

want to find out anything about

the NIA. But it is my duty to

correct the allegations and the

wrong impressions that are being

created. Yes, we know what

social media can do but what I

am saying is the official positon

declared by the Professor to me

and to the country. He is behind

the SIM re-registration. [Hear!

Hon Members,
we actually have a lot of work
today, including Statements. We
are just at the stage of listening
to comments on the Report of the
Business Committee as
presented by the Chairman of the
Business Committee. Let us not
waste too much time on this. He
has taken note of the concerns
raised and he is capable of
responding to them. With your
kind permission, I would allow
the Chairman of the Business
Committee to respond to the
comments that have been made
so far.
Hon Chairman, you may do
so now.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Ablakwa
related to item numbered 2(b) of
the Memorandum on the
Business Statement. He said that
the Majority Leader has
inadvertently been described as
the “Minister Leader”. I noticed the error and I think that it is a
typographical error. There is no
position known as “Minister Leader”, so clearly, it is a typographical error.
Mr Speaker, the Message on the State of the Nation, I could not really relate to the exact date because even though we have some dates in mind, I think that we also have to relate to the calendar of the Rt Hon Speaker. Initially, the President gave us some indication. I have no

formal communication from the Speaker but I have heard that there is some calendar for his presence in Ghana and outside Ghana. So, we need to do the reconciliation because I believe that in the presentation of the Message on the State of the Nation, the Rt Hon Speaker should be in the country.

That is the only reason I did

not mention the dates that we contemplated because we need to have some discussions with the Rt Hon Speaker on that.

Mr Speaker, with regard to

the other Motions that you referred to, we discussed them yesterday that they cannot eternally be on the back-burner and so we have to bring them forward and take some decisions on them. In particular, the Motion related to the procurement of the Sputnik V and also the Motion on the Debt Stock. They certainly would have to be brought to the front burner and I would want to believe that we could take them next week but that would be after some engagement with the Hon Ministers involved.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member

for Tamale North, Mr Suhuyini

Sayibu, raised an issue, that the

Business Committee was silent

on something. Unfortunately,

because he spoke through his

nose mask, I could not hear him

well and so if he could repeat

what he said?

The Appiatse
Explosion] .

All right. Certainly, that is not
within the remit of the Business
Committee. We do not generate
suo moto the agenda of the
House. The Hon Member should
apply himself to the Standing
Orders.
However, in my own
welcome address, I made
mention of it, that we have had a
statement from the Rt Hon
Speaker's Office which does not
really commit Parliament but I
said that it is important for us as
a House, to come together on
that. Beyond that, is it possible
for us to maybe, make some
contributions towards the
alleviation of the plight of the
people? We may have to put our

minds together on that; beyond

the messages of condolence and

empathy. We have to do

something and we could only do

so after conferring and

consulting among ourselves.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member

for Bongo, Mr Edward Bawa,

referred to an issue that I raised

on what we have done as a

House and I related to the three

barriers that we have crossed

which are the approval of the

Budget Statement and Economic

Policy of 2022, the consideration

of the Annual Estimates, 2022

which I said is predicated on the

revenues from the e-levy, which

as a House we have agreed on

and the Appropriations Bill,

2022.

However, I said that having

agreed on these things because it

is a new regime, we have to

support it with a Bill and it is at

the stage of the consideration of

the Bill that the House is at now.

I never said that we have

approved the Bill. I spoke about

the import of what we have done

technically and where we are, if

he heard me right. So, he should

make that distinction.

[Interruption] - I would correct myself? Mr Speaker, I want my

Hon Colleague to know that

there is nothing to correct.

Mr Speaker, the other matter

relates to what to do with regard

to the application the Hon

Minister has made for us in

respect of where we are with the

e-levy. Yes, the Hon Minority

Leader re-enforced what Hon

Minority Chief Whip said by

quoting article 106 of the 1992

Constitution. I agree with that

position except to add that article

106(5) provides:

“Where a bill has been deliberated upon by the

appropriate committee, it

shall be reported to

Parliament”.

That Committee that had the

referral had considered the Bill

and submitted their Report to

Parliament but the Report has

not been considered by the

House yet. They have submitted

the Report and that is beyond

dispute.

Mr Speaker, the Bill is

Government business and as we

do know, at any stage of the

consideration of the Bill, the

sponsoring Hon Minister could

even come to say that he would

want to withdraw the Bill.

Today, he has said that he needs

time to engage but because we

have not deliberated on the

Report yet, could the

Committee, maybe, between

now and then do further

engagements? That as far as I am

concerned if the Committee

wants to do that giving the time

they have, nobody could say that

they would not allow them. It

would require the House to make

that pronouncement. But if that

would enrich the Report, I do not

see anything wrong with it

except that it would mean that

they would have to withdraw the

Report and resubmit it. The

Report has been submitted and

distributed. As a matter of fact, it

has been laid and that was why I

said that technically, issues that

the Committee would be

confronted with would be then to

appeal to the House to withdraw

the Report if it becomes

necessary for them to relay it.

Other than that, if it would inure

to the benefit of the country, then

I would say, why not? We need

really to be very consultative

about it and then to chart a better

way for us as a House.

Mr Speaker, I would want to

quickly add that nobody has

engaged in any tricks to prevent

this House from considering the

Bill on the LGBTQ -

Hon Majority
Leader, the word was
“withdrawn”, so do not refer -

Mr Speaker, it is not the
withdrawal of that particular
word “tricks” but the point was made that this Side of the House
wants to prevent this House from
the consideration of the Bill on
the LGBTQ.

No, it is
because you referred to the same
word that I interfered. As for the
issue, you could comment on it
but the word “tricks” which you referred to has been withdrawn.

Mr Speaker, I take a cue. However, I want to say that nothing has been done by any Side of the aisle to prevent this

House from the debate on the Bill on the LGBTQ.

The Hon Minority Leader,

asked for the CEO of NIA to come to brief Ghanaians on the status of the NIA registration. I am not too sure that it has anything to do with the Business Statement before us. However, if it is a legitimate concern, why not? May be, through the appropriate Hon Minister, we could have that because we need to know.

Honestly, as I speak, I cannot

even trace my own NIA card. I say so because we were registered here in Parliament and we were asked to tarry awhile. I have asked that I should have my card but it has not been given to me yet and I am still knocking on doors to have it. So, if I have to register my SIM card with the NIA card, I would have a difficulty and that is why I have asked that they should access their own system.

However, the point is that the

person who even came to do the registration cannot on his own enter the system to retrieve an individual's identification card number unless the individual

applies and that is where we have some challenges.

Mr Speaker, we would see if

it is necessary to invite whoever is in charge to address these matters because a lot of Ghanaians would want to know the status of the NIA registration. I do not see anything wrong with it, except to say to the Hon Minority Leader, who is an Hon Member of the Committee and indeed, the Hon Ranking Member, to stop this practice of causing internal bleeding to the Committee anytime it appears before the House. He is an Hon Member of the Committee and he does not raise those issues at the Committee meeting but he comes to the House to deliberately want to cause internal bleeding to the Committee.

Mr Speaker, the case about

the Auditor-General relating to the appointment of whoever -- I think we need to come together on that. I am not too sure that it is a subject matter for us in Plenary.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Hon Members
- Yes, Hon Suhuyini Sayibu?
Mr Alhassan Suhuyini
Sayibu: Mr Speaker, this is a House of record and I would want to agree with the Hon Minister for the Interior when he says so. It is therefore important that our records are put right.
Mr Speaker, the Minister for the Interior says he has oversight over the National Identification Authority (NIA) and that he has been informed - I would have left it at that since he said he had been informed by the good old professor that the NIA supports the SIM card re-registration exercise because I was not there and I would not know what he was told.
However, he added that he had been informed and the people of Ghana have been informed as well that he now supports the SIM card re- registration. The record available is that there was a letter that was issued in response to queries as to the efficacy of the SIM card registration exercise.
That letter is what generated the discussion in the public domain. The NIA issued a statement and it is that statement that the Hon Minister for the Interior suggests that it supports the SIM card re- registration. The statement was issued on the 19th of January, 2022 and signed by the head of corporate affairs - Abudu Ganiu.

“The NIA stands by every statement contained in its response letter of 13th September, 2021 as being technically factual, accurate, correct and honest.”
Mr Speaker, what was contained in the letter of 13th September, 2021 simply said that technically, they could not vouch for the efficacy of the biometrics that were taken by the company together with the NCA for the purposes of the SIM card registration.
Again, legally, they argued in that same letter of 13th September, 2021 that they are mandated by law to do the SIM card registration exercise. So the Professor could not have been

supporting the SIM card registration exercise when in his own statement, signed by his Head of Corporate Affairs says they still stand by the content of the letter they wrote on the 13th of September, and that letter simply says that technically, they cannot vouch for the efficacy of the current SIM card registration exercise and legally, they should be in charge of the SIM card registration exercise.

Mr Speaker, I just thought

that this record had to be put

straight because indeed, this is a

House of record.

Thank you for the opportunity.

In view of what
you just raised, I would give the
opportunity to the Hon Minister
for Communications and
Digitalisation to, at least,
comment on what you said and
maybe, set the records straight.

Mr Speaker, no law in this land
has given the NIA the sole
authority to conduct SIM card
registration in this country. I
would challenge the Hon
Member who just said that the
NIA is the institution by law,
with the sole responsibility to
conduct SIM card registration to
indicate where in the NIA's own letter, it says so.
The NIA is mandated by law
to collect biometrics for the
purpose of issuing a national
identification card. The law also
requires certain activities to be
done if you require verification
of the identity of the person to
use the national identity card as
the sole card for that purpose.
Mr Speaker, so there is no law
in this country which has given
the NIA the authority to conduct
SIM card registration in this
land. The Subscriber Identity
Module Registration
Regulations, L.I. 2006 makes it
mandatory for only registered
SIM cards to be activated by any
network operator. So any SIM
card which is not registered
which is activated for use on any
network in this country, is being
used illegally. We are seeking to
correct that illegal use of SIM
cards in this country by the
regulator of mobile network
operators in this country acting
under the NCA law which is the

SIM Registration Regulations to

direct that all SIM cards in this

country be registered for us on

networks in this country. That is

the prerogative of the NCA

working in conjunction with the

mobile network operators and

that is the state of the law in this

country.

I have refrained from

contributing to the discussions

on this matter because I know

that this matter is the subject of a

lawsuit currently pending. And

so I will restrict my comments to

correct the false impression

created on the floor of this House

which is a House of record, that

the NIA has said anywhere that

it is the sole authority mandated

by law to conduct SIM card

registration in this country. That

is not factual and that is not a

statement of the fact or the law in

this country.

Mr Speaker, thank you.

Hon Members,
the Report submitted by the
Business Committee subject to
the comments made by Hon
Members, shall be deemed to
have been adopted by this House
for the purpose of guiding us in
the conduct of our Business
during the course of the week.
We know that by our rules,
during the course of the week,
other urgent Businesses could be
introduced on daily basis after
due consultations on the Order
Paper of the day.
So, let us adopt this but notice
has been given by many of you
of the urgent date of the Business
Committee to consider earlier
Businesses that are before the
House which are not yet
concluded. The Business
Committee is being called upon
to programme those Businesses
for due conclusion by the House.
There are also areas that Hon
Members must realise that the
Business Committee does not
generate the Business, we do not
only have Government Business
in this House, we also have
Parliamentary and Private
Businesses.
Hon Members, it is the
Government Business that the
Hon Majority Leader and Leader
of the House is in charge of. The
Parliamentary and Private
Businesses are usually routed
through the due authorities including
the Speaker for admission. It is

after they have been admitted

that they are referred to the

Business Committee to be

programmed for the House. So,

it is not just everything that goes

to the Business Committee

through the Leader of

Government Business.

So, some of the things that we

refer to, are things that must

come to me as Speaker for

consideration and possibly,

referral to the Business

Committee. This matter of

appointment of an auditor by

Parliament to audit the accounts

of the Auditor-General is a

matter to be dealt with, by the

House. We are trying to get the

best procedure of implementing

that. It is not by the Speaker

neither is it by the Parliamentary

Service Board; the Constitution

says that the appointment is by

Parliament.

Hon Members, so we are

consulting to iron out the

detailed mechanisms, processes

and procedures to adopt and

make sure that the decision is

taken by Parliament and not by

any individual or component of

Parliament.

With regard to the issue of the

Message on the State of the

Nation, yes, article 67 of the

Constitution is very clear that the

President should present the

Message on the State of the

Nation to the House, but how is

this done?

The President can be ready to

come to deliver the Message but

Parliament may not be ready to

receive it. Parliament would

have to be consulted to

programme the day that the

President would come to present

the Message on the State of the

Nation. It is not for nothing that

when somebody is about to enter

your room, at least, the person

says agoo. The person does not

just walk in. These are good

practices that are adopted when

formulating laws. So the

President is duly consulting

Parliament on this matter and the

date would be fixed and the

President would come to present

the Message on the State of the

Nation Address. With this, I urge

the Business Committee to

kindly capture the other pending

businesses for the consideration

of the House. The Business

Statement for the week is

therefore duly adopted.

Hon Members, we have, with

your kind permission, two

Statements that are quite

important, which I believe your

comments made earlier have

underscored the importance and

urgency of those Statements.

One is coming from the Hon

Minister in charge of Lands and

Natural Resources and it is in

connection with the national

disaster which you referred to,

and I think it is appropriate I give

him the time now to make the

Statement. So, we are now on

item numbered 6 on the Order

Paper, Statements. The Hon

Minister for Lands and Natural

Resources would make the

Statement and the Urgent

Questions would be taken later.

Hon Minister, you are

welcome.

Hon Members,
this is a Statement from the Hon
Minister for Lands and Natural
Resources on Standing Order 72,
but not necessarily Order 70
because Order 70 deals with just
announcement or statement on
Government policy, and Order
72 deals with a matter of urgent
public importance or of a
personal nature. So, I would
allow Hon Members to make
comments, as stated by the
Standing Orders, which are not
meant to generate debate. There
is a time limit to that. We still
have one more Statement, and I
would plead with Hon Members
to be brief in their comments.
Hon Ranking Member of the
Committee on Lands and
Forestry.
Dr Abdul-Rashid Hassan
Pelpuo (NDC - Wa Central): Mr Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity to contribute to the
Statement ably presented by the
Hon Minister for Lands and
Natural Resources.
Mr Speaker, logically, it
requires that at every event that
causes pain and tragedy to the
people of Ghana, we would expect a
responsible Government to
demonstrate their care for the
people, and for the Minister of
State responsible for the area of
concern to come to Parliament,
and speak to the people through
us to let them understand that it
was a tragedy that can affect any

Mr Speaker, this explosion

was of immense tragedy which

caused a lot of pain and

destruction on humans and

materials, and as a result touched

everywhere else. When it

happened, I was not in this

country; I was in Uganda with

my Hon Colleagues on a visit to

the Ugandan Parliament, and

was informed about it. In fact, I

was called by somebody from

the Cable News Network (CNN)

because he thought I was in

Ghana. He wanted to get in

touch with somebody he could

speak to. That tells us the extent

to which the news went.

This is not the only thing that

has happened in Ghana. It is

becoming one too many for

explosions to happen in this

country. It tells us that there

must be something we are not

doing right. I would expect that

after this Statement, the Hon

Minister would go the extra

length to find out exactly what

he must do to curb any future

occurrences.

Mr Speaker, it is good that the

public has been called upon to

help, and it is refreshing to note

that when the incident occurred,

everybody in the country was

concerned and there were

demonstrations of emotions and

desire to see the matter

addressed.

Mr Speaker, I was happy to also

hear that the Vice President visited

the place, but I was a little

surprised to note that the promise

to the people did not go far enough.

It must not just be by way of efforts

to only support them now, but in

ways that would help them restore

themselves to good life as they

lived before. People died, others

were dislocated and houses were

destroyed.

Mr Speaker, at one point in

time, a report came out that a

man who sent his son out for

something could not find him,

and was in a hurry to go and

fetch him when the second

explosion occurred. He and his

son lost their lives. These are

very sad situations which

occurred. What happens is that

every single time that an incident

occurs, the Police or authorities

must take control of the scene,

but it did not happen in this

particular instance. Instead,

people rushed there to take

pictures, and others went just for

sightseeing. Therefore, when the

second explosion occurred, a lot

of them got injured, and some

died.

Mr Speaker, it is therefore

important that we take particular

notice of this that the police must

take authority at every single

time that an event like this

occurs so that we do not have

people plunge onto the scene to

get killed.

Mr Speaker, the investigation

that must be conducted must

start soon, and must bring to us a

full and comprehensive report of

what happened. It would help in

making future decisions.

Since you have already

cautioned that we should not

speak too much, I would urge the

Hon Minister to work harder on

getting a report on it. I am happy

that he has already taken some

swift actions, including the fact

that some people were

suspended from office until full

investigations are done. I urge

that they work hard as the Vice

President has promised to give

the people some solace or

support so that they would be

able to keep up with life. They

should not be allowed to sleep

outside for a long time.

Mr Speaker, it is an event that

has caused us a lot of pain, and I

send my condolences to the

many people who have been

affected.

Minister for the Interior

(Mr Ambrose Dery) (MP): Mr

Speaker, I beg to contribute to

the Statement ably made by the

Hon Minister for Lands and

Natural Resources, in which he

captures the essentials; the

panoramic view of what His

Excellency the President has

initiated to make sure that the

emergency services went

immediately into action.

I totally agree with the actions

he has taken as far as it concerns

explosives and their

transportation. It is clear that the

Chief Inspector of Mines is also

the Chief Inspector of

explosives, and it is his duty to

produce an incident report. The

Hon Minister has been

proactive, pursuant to the

directions of the President, and

everything has gone on well.

Mr Speaker, for my part, I

would want to bring the

dimension of the Police and the

other security agencies into the

matter. They acted timeously.

The Hon Member on the

Minority side talked about a

certain attitude that we need to

deplore, and also warn people

against: it is the attitude of

people rushing to the scene of

accidents, especially when it

involves vehicles that carry

inflammables.

Mr Speaker, before I come

back to my main issue, let me

mention that a few days ago in

Kaase, there was an explosion

that involved a petrol tanker.

Anytime that we have accidents

that involve petrol tankers, what

the residents do is to rush to the

tanker and try to take some of the

fuel. It is a very dangerous

exercise, and most of the time,

we have explosions that kill a lot

of the people.

In this case, even though the

Police are yet to complete their

investigations, the driver of the

truck, after this accident, called

on people to move away from

the tanker, but they rushed in to

try to take pictures. It is a very

dangerous exercise, and that led

to the deaths.

I would want to assure all of

us that the security agencies

worked very fast. Explosive

experts of both the Ghana Police

Service and the Ghana Army

went to the scene immediately

overnight to make sure that there

were no unexploded explosives

which could cause further harm.

Even though the Vice President

led a delegation to the site, all

that we did there was guided to

make sure that the potential

evidence on the crime scene was

not tampered with. It was a

technically managed tour that

did all it could to preserve the

scene for further investigations.

I share all the comments that

the Hon Minister made, and

would want to assure that we are

continually reviewing the

situation and would make sure

that at the end of the

investigation, we the security

agencies, together with the Hon

Minister for Lands and Natural

Resources, would do all that is

necessary to achieve the

President's goals of ensuring that all who are affected are

taken care of, and that lessons

are learnt from this to avoid a

recurrence, and above all, that

this country works together as it

responded positively to this

event, and to also work together

to make sure that Ghana

continues to be a good example

in these matters.

Mr Speaker, we believe that

L. I. 2177 would be reviewed to

see if it is adequate, and we

would work with the Hon

Minister for Lands and Natural

Resources to make sure that we

achieve that. The security

agencies are still on the grounds

and working to get us more

information. At the end of the

day, the Report would be used to

make sure that Ghana does not

suffer the recurrence of such an

event.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Mr John Abdulai Jinapor

(NDC - Yapei/Kusawgu): Mr Speaker, I would like to join my

Hon Colleagues to first and

foremost commiserate with the

victims of this unfortunate

disaster.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

commend you personally

because I recall that following

this incident, you, on behalf of

Parliament, issued a statement to

express our condolence to all the

affected victims. I also recall that

you personally followed with a

phone call to some Hon

Members of the Committee on

Mines and Energy and I on what

role we could play as Parliament.

Mr Speaker, I am even

fortified that by your action, not

only have you shown that we

should portray the Ghanaian

culture with your beautiful attire,

but you have also demonstrated

that this Parliament, under your

leadership, is up and doing, and

is doing what is right.

Mr Speaker, like the Hon

Minister said, he does not want

us to prejudice the investigation.

It is our hope that when the

Report of the investigation is

ready, it would be made

available to we Hon MPs for our

perusal.

Mr Speaker, I have already

had discussions with the Hon

Chairman of the Committee on

Mines and Energy. The

Committee, which has

supervisory role in the mining

sector, intends visiting the

community under your

instruction to see for ourselves

the extent of damage, and also to

ascertain what Government is

doing in order to ameliorate the

suffering of the people. Mr

Speaker, the Legislative

Instrument that the Hon Minister

referred to was passed in 2012.

Following that, there has been a

lot of technological changes and

advancements, and I believe that

the time has come for us to take

a second look at the L. I. itself. If

we read Regulation 33, which is,

the permit to carry explosives,

with new technology, a lot more

can be done.

Mr Speaker, like the Hon

Minister for the Interior

underscored, more often than

not, the issue of education ought

to be given a lot of priority

because most times when

accidents happen, the first thing

that people do is, rather than

moving away from the scene,

they move there especially with

their mobile phones to take

pictures. That should find

expression in terms of educating

Ghanaians on such incidents.

Mr Speaker, just to wind up,

some of us would suggest, and I

hope the Hon Minister would

take this on board as he attempts

to set up a committee to review

the whole mining sector. Is it not

possible that these explosives are

manufactured close to the

mining sectors rather than at a

far place and transported them

through densely - populated areas to the mining centres? It is

my hope that NADMO would be

resourced because we are aware

of the difficulty that it faces and

so we can deal with the

aftermath of such incidents.

Mr Speaker, in ending, I

would want to assure you and the

House that the Committee on

Mines and Energy would live up

to expectation. We are

monitoring events and we would

pursue the necessary course of

action through your guidance

when we find it necessary.

Mr Speaker, on that note, let

me once again, commiserate and

express our condolences to the

bereaved families, and to appeal

to Government to hasten the

distribution of relief items and

ensure that life is brought back to

normalcy.

Thank you very much, Mr

Speaker.

Minister for Environment,

Science, Technology and

Innovation (Dr Kweku Afriyie)

(MP): Mr Speaker, I would also

start by commiserating with the

people of Appiatse. I know the

village very well, and I can

imagine what happened on that

day. Mr Speaker, that can wait

for another day.

Mr Speaker, first of all, I

would want to congratulate the

Hon Minister, Hon Samuel

Abdulai Jinapor. who is directly

responsible for this sector, for

the swift action that he has taken.

I would also want to inform the

House that when the Ministry of

Environment, Science, Technology

and Innovation (MESTI) got wind

of this, I also dispatched the

Executive Director of Environment

to the scene and so we have also

played our role.

Mr Speaker, as a public health

person, I also followed what my

colleague health personnel were

doing. At this stage, I would

mention names: there is one Dr

Avortri who has a hospital in that

area. I would like to commend

him. I have forgotten the name of

his hospital, but it must be less

than three kilometres or so from

the scene. My information is that

he and his staff were the

immediate place for seeking

relief and they did very well. At

the same time doctors and nurses

and health personnel in general

from Tarkwa through to as far as

Wassa Akropong, and its

environs, and even those who

have retired, voluntarily were

marshalled to give help to

victims. I congratulate them.

Mr Speaker, these things are

bound to happen, but it

strengthens me in making the

advocacy for the local content

rule. In the mining community,

we must be specific, that mining

companies should make a very

good effort to recruit people

from mining communities.

Apart from these acute

emergencies, the people live

with chronic diseases which are

associated with mining. They

include pneumoconiosis - inhalation of silica - which is a very high burden of pneumonias.

There are also social burdens

such as prostitution and drug

use. They have been foisted on

mining communities because of

the mining industry.

It is beyond Government. We

are all Ghanaians, but if some

people bear unusual burden

associated with the industry,

they must be the first

beneficiaries because whatever

we do, we cannot bring back

lives that have been lost in that

village. However, they would

suffer for decades from this

tragic accident.

Mr Speaker, before I take my

seat, the public too must be

educated. I would like to echo

what one of my Hon Colleagues

has said. It is even unethical that

when an accident happens

videos are taken without the

consent of the victims. In fact,

that is invasion of their privacy.

I have a bad example when there

was a similar accident, not an

explosion, in Sefwi-Bekwai.

People actually invaded my

theatre wanting to take video

clips of those who were literally

on the theatre table to have

surgery. Such ethos in Ghanaian

polity must be eschewed, and we

must do that with education and

people should be sanctioned. I

am sure that those who did that

would be recorded on clips and

so I am calling for a legislation

to capture that.

Mr Speaker, I know that there

is an investigation ongoing, and

we anxiously await the outcome,

but what I would want to be

added to the recommendation is

that a public address system be

mounted on these vehicles so

that that lone driver, who was

telling people to stay away,

would have time to broadcast it

so that people would seek shelter

instead of going towards there to

find out what had happened.

Mr Speaker, finally, I would

like to commend my own

Government for the action that it

has taken. They have been swift

and apt and I believe that for all

it's worth, the people there would be very appreciative of

the action that the Government

has taken.

Mr Speaker, thank you very

much for the opportunity.

Dr Kwabena Donkor (NDC

- Pru East): Mr Speaker, I would want to commiserate with

the people who have lost

relatives, livelihoods and

incomes arising out of this

mishap.

Mr Speaker, you would

remember that your good self-

admitted a Statement on this

Floor less than three months ago

on regulatory and enforcement

failure in the Ghanaian polity.

Mr Speaker, what has happened

is a good example of

enforcement failure. There are

regulations, protocols, and

guidelines, and when all these

are enforced to the letter,

accidents such as this should

never happen. This is not an act

of God or nature.

Mr Speaker, as defective as

the L. I. on the explosives may

be, it does not present any

excuse. The new thing in

regulatory craft is that

companies, particularly the

traditional ones, are bound to

obey national laws or

international best practices

depending on whichever is

higher.

Indeed, in our petroleum

regulations, which were carved

more recently, that phrase is

always captured. So, in

regulatory craft, the fact that a

law does not make provision for

any specific act does not exempt

the company responsible from

responsibility. That is why the

sounds today in regulation is that

‘‘you are bound by national

standards or international best

practice depending on

whichever is higher''.

Mr Speaker, in the best of

regulatory enforcement

environment, you would not

have explosives transported in

such a manner that a purported

interruption by a motor rider or

such other incident would lead to

such a major catastrophic

disaster. It should never happen.

Again, in other jurisdictions, the

practise is that the container in

which explosives are transported

should be such that they would

be able to hold the velocity of the

explosion.

Mr Speaker, we must also not

forget that there is a provision of

goods in transit insurance and

this is why I was disappointed

that our Vice President

immediately stated that the State

would provide houses. It is not

the responsibility of the

Ghanaian State. The

responsibility of the Ghanaian

State is to ensure that

appropriate insurance and bodies

with the responsibility, provide

the houses because there is what

we call goods in transit

insurance which should cover

such accidents.

Again, there is the principal - agent relationship. Whoever sent

the load of explosives, whether it

is the mining company that

purchased it and contracted the

transporter or the manufacturer

which was selling it and

contracted the transporter, has

the primary responsibility to

compensate the good people of

the area for any mishap.

Mr Speaker, while I look

forward to the investigation, I

would want the narrative that

this has happened because we

have defective legislation to be

taken up. That is not

international best practice and

that is not what we do in

regulatory management. It is

typical example of enforcement

failure.

As I stated on this Floor, my

worry is that more than 50 per

cent of the issues that worry us in

Ghana would not be there if we

enforced regulations properly.

Too many problems are

transported to the desks of

Ministers because of

enforcement failure of existing

regulations. So, it is high time

we as a people, placed serious

emphasis on regulation and

regulatory enforcement.

Mr Speaker, thank you for the

Hon Minister
for Roads and Highways?
Minister for Roads and
Highways (Mr Kwasi Amoako
Attah)(MP): Mr Speaker, thank
you. I would like to associate
myself with the Statement so
strongly made by the Hon
Minister for Lands and Natural
Resources, Hon John Abudulai
Jinapor. I would thank all Hon
Colleagues who have also
equally strongly contributed to
it.
Mr Speaker, a disaster of such
magnitude should not be seen as
a concern for only the people of
Appiatse or the Western Region.
Indeed, it concerns the entire
country and is seen as an
occurrence that came about as a
result of transporting some
explosives. Clearly, there were
some lapses and the Ministry of
Lands and Natural Resources is
dealing with all those shortfalls.
This national disaster has been
seen and a lot of people in this
country have expressed so much
concern that all of us must work
together to ensure that this does
not re-occur in our country.
Mr Speaker, it must be put on
record that Government and its
Ministries and Agencies acted
promptly to deal with this matter
and the Minister of Lands and
Natural Resources, Ministry of
the Interior and the Ministry of
Roads and Highways, worked
together with National Disaster
Management Organisation
(NADMO) to deal with this
matter.

Mr Speaker, the blast created

a very huge crater in the middle

of the road, about three

kilometres from Bogoso and the

crater was so deep and wide

about 21 metres long and 10.3

metres deep. My Ministry and its

Agencies quickly moved in

because it cuts off part of the

road and brought the good

people of this area to their knees.

All their economic activities

came to a halt. So, we quickly

had to begin filling this crater

and as an immediate action, we

had to create a diversion to

enable the normal movement of

good and people to take place.

We have been able to create a

diversion of almost 270 metres

long and seven metres wide. We

have restored to the good people

of Appiatse and the Western

Region, normal vehicular

movement despite the great

intensity of this unfortunate

disaster.

Mr Speaker, my Ministry has therefore put together about three strong contractors namely, MS Rango, MS Whilhelm and MS Golden Star to restore the road to its normal state. We have asked these contractors to continue to remain on site until

we bring the road back to its original state. There are a number of activities concerning the scope of works of these roads that are ongoing and we would make sure that we remain on site and create safety conditions for all motorists and all those who use the road.

At this point, I would humbly appeal to road users and pedestrians to take all necessary measures and follow all the road signs that have been put in place by my Ministry to avoid further disasters.

Mr Speaker, we have visited this area more than four times, that is a delegation from my Ministry and God willing, on Friday, we would again visit the site and make sure that we bring the road back to normalcy to allow the people of Appiatse, the Western Region and indeed the good people of this country to go by their normal economic activities. We would ensure that on behalf of Government, this would be brought to its logical conclusion.

Thank you Mr Speaker.

Ms Mohammed Zuwera

Ibrahimah (NDC - Salaga South): Thank you very much

Mr Speaker for the opportunity

to make a contribution to the

Statement on the unfortunate

accident that happened in

Appiatse in the Prestea-Huni Valley Constituency.

We thank the Hon Minister

for his expediency, for bringing

all of us to speed on what

happened, giving us the

adequate background that we

desire to know and also the

highlights on some of the critical

issues that Government and

other partners have been able to

undertake in order to bring some

relief to the people of Appiatse.

Mr Speaker, in Islam, the

Prophet enjoins us to come

together as a people in times of

adversity and grief. It does not

matter what difference that

would have pertained. So, we all

stand together with the people of

Appiatse to offer them our

support and to keep them in our

thoughts and prayers.

In the Statement, the Hon

Minister did mention that

indeed, the Vice President of the

Republic of Ghana was the first

high profiled Ghanaian to visit

the place of the accident but

when he arrived there was a team

that he worked with to bring

some assurance to the people

and for the people to know that

indeed, Government was abreast

of what happened. One of such

personalities was the Hon

Member for Prestea-Huni

Valley, Mr Robert Cudjoe but I

found it curious that his name

was not mentioned in the Hon

Minister's Statement. We know how much time and effort the

Hon Member committed to this

endeavour.

We also know and we thank

the Hon Minister for his

highlight on all the hard core

interventions that the

Government has put in place.

However, in times of such

accidents, we immediately look

at what we could do to resettle

the surviving victims which

might form the soft part of the

intervention. When that

happens, the Government,

agencies and individuals would

want to play a role to make sure

that the people get some relief.

One such individual who took it

upon himself to extend massive

relief to the people of Appiatse

was Mr Ibrahim Mahama of

Engineers and Partners

Company. He donated 5000

bags of rice, 5000 tins of fish and

1000 gallons of cooking oil for

the immediate relief of the

people, and I thought that should

have been mentioned in the Hon

Minister's Statement. If for nothing at all, it would boost the

morale of other endowed

individuals within this country to

chip in to support in desperate

times.

Mr Speaker, we have heard

that some people donated blood

and others even contributed in

terms of the communication to

evacuate and move people to

safety and we commend all of

that highly.

Mr Speaker, we are aware that a Committee has been set up to donate the relief items to the victims; unfortunately, the Hon Member for that constituency is not part of the Committee. That is why I shared the hadiths of the Prophet Mohammed who said that in times of adversity we should come together. The Hon Member is the one person from that constituency and that area who would receive the most

phone calls with regard to the support and needs of the people. It is fair that when we undertake some of these activities we should make sure that the people central to the activities are also involved in the administration of the relief items.

Mr Speaker, I want to thank

the Hon Minister once again for bringing us to speed on what his Ministry and Government would do in terms of the Legislative Instrument (L.I) on explosive materials.

However, we also need to

look at what that means for the people and that is where I would want to join my Hon Colleague, Dr Kwabena Donkor, when he made the statement that in as much as we appreciate, congratulate and commend the Government for its efforts, some of the statements that were made as in the ones attributed by the Vice President to build houses, should have been thought through properly. Building houses is important to resettle the people but who would bear the responsibility? If our laws a re-enforced properly, we would know where that responsibility should be sent to.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very

much for this opportunity and I

want to join you as you did, to

extend our commiserations to

the people of Appiatse and wish

them well.

Hon Members,
because of the importance of the
Statement, particularly, the
national trauma that we had from
the disaster, I have given more
than sufficient time for not just
the presentation of the Statement
but the comments. However, I
think it is appropriate that I allow
the Hon Member from that
constituency to have the last say
and after him, we may have to
move to another subject.
Hon Members, would have
to consider that I have sat for
over four hours and that is
unhealthy.
Hon Member for Prestea
Huni-Valley, you may have the
last word.
Mr Robert Wisdom Cudjoe
(NDC - Prestea/Huni-Valley): Mr Speaker, I would like to take
this opportunity to add my voice
to the Statement presented by the
Hon Minister.
I have been very sad since
Thursday and I describe that day
as a “Black Thursday” for the people of Prestea Huni-Valley
and for that matter Appiatse. I
got to the scene few minutes
after the incident and the Ghana
National Fire Service, NADMO,
the Police command and the BNI
were all present. When I arrived,
I realised that the only machine
at the spot was a backhoe and so
I called on the MCE and assured
him that I would get excavators
for him within the shortest
possible time. So, I drove back to
town and within 20 minutes, I
was able to marshal two
excavators and fuelled them to
the spot and that was what was
used to remove the debris and
dead bodies. I was part of the
rescue team through out to the
night and we all decided around
3 o'clock to make a bypass road for all the vehicles from Kumasi,
Takoradi and other places.
On the second day when the
Vice President visited the site, I
was with his team. I was even
introduced to him by the Hon
Minister for Information and I
accompanied him to almost all
the places that he visited until he
left the following day. I was

present when we received a

number of donations from Gold

fields and other mining

companies. We went to the

mortuary to make sure that the

information about the data of

people who had passed on was

authentic and it was there that we

realised that 13 people had

passed on.

Mr Speaker, I heard this

morning that a Committee has

been set up to manage the items

that have been donated by

individuals and groups which

my name was not included. Yet,

I have called on the MCE that if

anything at all, a representative

from my camp should be present

so that at least, we all could

monitor the items and make sure

that they go to the right people

and who would actually benefit

from that.

My greatest problem is that

when I followed the Vice

President there was a promise

that they were going to put up

houses for the people of

Appiatse. Currently, the Hon

Minister has presented

information on investigating the

cause of the explosion.

Mr Speaker, so, I beg to plead

that as a House, we all monitor

activities and make sure that

whatever these people deserve

are given to them, especially

with regard to accommodation.

We also have to follow up to

make sure that the appropriate

investigations are conducted to

bring to book all those who are

at fault. This is because as a

country, and as one who was

brought up in a mining area,

what I have realised is that safety

measures are taken for granted

by most of the mining

companies; they think that when

one starts from step ‘a' to step‘d' and skips one two of the steps in

the middle, they can still arrive

at the same destination. So, the

necessary action should be taken

after findings are conducted on

those at fault.

With these words and on a

very sad note, I pray that the

Great Lord grants the deceased a

peaceful and everlasting resting

place. My main concern has to

do with how the injured can be

financially sustained. If not fully

supported, at least, they should

be provided with what they can

depend on for the rest of their

lives.

Mr Speaker, thank you for the

Hon Members,
I think it is appropriate for the
Hon Minister who actually made
the Statement to say a word. I
would give him not more than a
minute to do so in view of the
extensive comments that have
been made by Hon Members as
he may have something to say
about it.

Mr Speaker,
first of all, I would like to thank
the House for the very rich
contributions they have made to
the Statement I made. We would
take all the suggestions, critiques
and inputs made by Hon
Members of this House. Indeed,
that is the essence of the
Statement I have made. Having
said that I would just like to
emphasise that investigations are
ongoing and therefore, we would
all have to wait for the outcome
of the investigations.
Mr Speaker, when the Vice
President said the Appiatse
community would be rebuilt, he
meant it and I said so in my
Statement and I would like to
reiterate it that Government is
determined to build the Appiatse
community and not just build it,
but build a modern community
for the people of Appiatse.
As a matter of fact, tomorrow,
God willing, I am visiting the
community with the Hon
Minister for Works and Housing
and thereafter, we would re-
build the Appiatse community.
Finally, the Appiatse Support
Fund which we have established,
I would respectfully call on Hon
Members of the House and the
House as a whole to contribute
generously to this Fund. It is the
contributions to the Fund which
would be used to support the
residents of Appiatse and also
enable us to rebuild the
community.
Mr Speaker, Government is
committed to being on top of this
matter and as everyone would
attest to, the Government has
been acting swiftly, responsibly
and robustly and by the grace of
God, we would get to the logical
conclusion of the work we are

doing and the people of Appiatse

would be very happy because

they have a responsible

Government.

Mr Speaker, with respect, it

is just so that we do not get into

issues of National Democratic

Congress (NDC) and that of the

New Patriotic Party (NPP). That

is why Government has set up an

Endowment Fund manned by

independent minded people and

I believe that they would work

closely with the Hon Member of

However, the Fund has been

established and these are

independent and highly - renowned Ghanaian citizens

who are responsible for the

Fund. So, Hon Members of

Parliament should contribute to

the Fund.

Hon Members,
I think this is a very sad
occurrence in our dear nation
and indeed, it has brought up the
true nature and character of the
Ghanaian. We have come
together in sorrow, and to
support the lives that were so
graciously saved by the
Almighty God and also to see
how we could, together
reconstruct the area for the
living.
Yes, Government is leading
the process but a lot more
Ghanaians have put in their little
bit of support including my good
Self - [Hear! Hear!] - so I would want to add my voice by
expressing the deepest
condolences of this House to the
bereaved families, the entire
traditional area and particularly,
the traditional leaders, spiritual
and family heads who are
actually bearing the brunt.
Definitely, the political
leaders; the District Chief
Executive (DCE) and the Hon
Member of Parliament (MP)
expect us to boost their morale
by supporting them and we need
to commend the efforts they
have put in so far. I have my ears
on the ground and I am aware of
the contributions that both the
Hon MP and the DCE have
made.
More importantly, the health
personnel are doing - a lot to
save lives and restore normalcy

to the area. Our security agencies

need to be highly commended

for what they have done and I

think it is important that we all

continue to contribute to try and

restore what we have lost.

Hon Members, this saddens

us, particularly, lawmakers such

that we make laws which are not

obeyed. It is a very serious

matter that we have to take up,

and when the Report is presented

to the Government, this House

would want to have a copy of it

and possibly, contribute our

quota to support Government. If

there is the need for us to revise

and strengthen the laws and

institutions for the enforcement

of those laws, we would

definitely do so.

So, once again, it is with these

words that I would like to

convey the deepest condolences

of Parliament; Hon Members,

staff and ancillary staff to all

members of the bereaved

families. May the good Lord

continue to protect, guide and

grant them solace. I say this with

all sincerity and the sadness of

heart.

Hon Members, I would like to

thank Hon Woyome for his

indulgence in agreeing with me

to postpone his Statement till

tomorrow.

It is a very important

Statement that has to do with the

Black Stars and I know how

important it is but looking at the

state of affairs, tomorrow will

not be too late and so he has

agreed that he would present the

Statement tomorrow. So Hon

Members who are interested in

sports, particularly in football,

should prepare to make useful

contributions. I am a football fan

and I am saddened that Ghana no

longer has a team.

With this, I would want to get

some guidance from the Hon

Majority Leader and the other

Leaders whether we would have

to go to item numbered 8,

Presentation of Papers and

whether the Papers are ready to

be laid.

Mr Speaker, I believe we can
deal with public business and do
presentation of Papers, which
would not take more than five
minutes and then the other
matter would come after that. So
if you indulge, we can go to the
item numbered 8.

At the
Commencement of Public
Business, the item numbered 8,
Presentation of Papers.

Mr
Speaker, this Report should be
referred to the Public Accounts
Committee because it is the
Auditor-General's Report.

Well, it is so
referred but we would need to sit
down to strategise how to handle
the volumes of Reports that are
coming to your Committee and
what other logistics you would
need to discharge those duties. It
is a very important arm of
governance - Auditor-General's Department. So it is accordingly
referred to the Public Accounts
Committee; not the Finance
Committee.
The item numbered 8(a)(ii).

Mr Speaker, I think you have
made a very important
observation in respect of the
item numbered 8(a)(i), that
indeed it is not the foreign
exchange receipt and payment
which should go to the Finance
Committee but it is the Auditor-
General's Report so it should go to the Public Accounts
Committee. But Mr Speaker, the
Public Accounts Committee is
inundated with volumes of
Reports and I think it would
serve their own interest if they
constituted committees within
the Public Accounts Committee
to be dealing with them.

Hon Majority
Leader, I just mentioned that we
would meet and strategise how

to handle it. That is why I raised

that issue so let us move on.

Mr Speaker, I am having some
advice from the Chairman that I
should leave that one to him and
he knows why he says I should
leave it to him. I certainly leave
it to him because it is the
Committee's business but this is
a friendly advice that that is what
we have to do to get the volumes
off his desk.
Mr Speaker, the item
numbered 8(a)(ii).
By the Majority Leader and
Leader of Government Business
(ii) Semi-Annual Report of
the Public Interest and
Accountability Committee
(PIAC) on the
Management and Use of
Petroleum Revenues for
the Period January to June
2021.
Referred to the Finance
Committee.

The item
numbered 8(b), by the Chairman
of the Committee.

Mr Speaker, I believe we can
stand that down until tomorrow.

Accordingly
stood down.
What about 8(c) by the
Chairman of the Committee on
Education?
By the Chairman of the
Committee
Report of the Committee on
Education on the Student
Loan Trust Fund
(Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Hon Members,
item numbered 6 has not been
taken because we need to discuss
it further. The Hon Member
involved would have to get in
touch with me for further
discussion on that issue. We
would now move on to
Committee sittings but I have an
indication that there is an
important information I have to
pass on to Hon Members and if
possible, we have Closed Sitting.
Leadership?

Mr Speaker, we have some
outstanding businesses so we
can have that short Joint Caucus
sitting once we adjourn so that
we can deal with it for about five
or 10 minutes. Then for the issue
that you raised with the Urgent
Question, if you agree, we can
take that one tomorrow - perhaps before Sitting.

I do not think
that the Urgent Question is due
for consideration but we would
do that later.
Hon Members, it is important
I give you this information. I am
sure you are all aware and you
have always been aware since
the emergence of the COVID-19
pandemic two years ago, that the
virus has mutated a number of
times with devastating
consequences on human kind
around the world.
Again, as you may be aware,
last year, this House arranged the
conduct of two vaccination
exercises for Hon Members,
staff and ancillary staff and their
families within the
parliamentary enclave in order to
reduce the spread of infection of
the COVID-19 virus. I must state
that the exercise was highly
successful.
Hon Members, medical
experts have strongly
recommended that even after
taking two shots of the vaccine,
one would require a booster shot
to provide an extra layer of
protection against the virus. It is
against this background that
after consultation with the
Leaders of the House, I directed
the Clerk and the Administration
to arrange a vaccination booster
exercise, which commenced on
Saturday, 22nd January, 2022 for
staff when Parliament had not
resumed Sitting.
4.28
Parliament has resumed
Sitting today and the exercise is
continuing today, Tuesday, 25th
January to Thursday, 27th
January, 2022 for Hon Members,
staff, ancillary staff and
members of their families.
Please, not only those working
within the enclave of Parliament,
but it includes members of your
families. This, as you know, is
for good reason. I would want to
state at this stage that this
booster vaccination is
compulsory for everyone

working within the precincts of

Parliament. It applies to those

who have taken the two shots of

the vaccine. If you have taken

only one, you cannot go for a

booster. If you have not taken at

all, you can also not go for a

booster.

Hon Members, henceforth,

Members, staff, and ancillary

staff would be required to show

prove of vaccination before

being allowed into any office

within the precinct of

Parliament. After the

vaccination exercise, any

Member, staff and ancillary staff

who fails to take the booster jab

will be denied access to

Parliament. Hon Members, you

are allowed to go to the Supreme

Court. - [Laughter] - but so far as I am concerned, and with the

experience so far, and you all

know what happened on the last

day of the Sitting of Parliament

last year? It spread immediately

after you left the precincts of

Parliament. We know the

number of Members who were

down. Do you want me to give

the names? Your Leaders know

[Laughter].

Hon Members, I am being

frank because we followed up.

We got calls from you and we

took down the numbers. So, if

one person is left infected, the

exercise will be meaningless.

Definitely, it would not have the

same effect that a Member has

not taken a booster. It is just to

help you to be able to resist the

impact of the virus. We have

gone from Delta to Omicron to

Delta-Omicron. Who knows?

Another name could surface. So,

this is just for our own safety,

protection and wellbeing. If you

decide not take advantage of it,

you know that countries now

insist that when you do not have

these vaccinations, they would

not give you visa to enter their

countries. As we sit here, we do

not know when you would be

called upon to represent your

country or our constituency

outside this country. So, if you

deny yourself the booster, you

deny yourself the opportunities.

Over to you Joe Lartey.

Thank you Hon Members, for

you attention.

Mr Speaker, just for clarity, you
mentioned Members of
Parliament, staff and ancillary

staff. I would want to believe

that by ancillary staff, it would

include officers of Parliament.

They would include security

persons who work with us here.

So, they should deem this

statement as covering them as

well. They must be vaccinated.

If it is Pfizer, which is only once,

plus the booster that they must

submit themselves to.

Mr Speaker, fortunately, we

now have enough to cater for

everybody. That is why I am

happy that you added that the

family members of Members of

Parliament and staff, ancillary

staff, plus other officers of

Parliament should submit

themselves. Because if one does

not, he should not mislead

himself because even after

booster, one is not 100 per cent

covered. So, one could go home

and if the family members are

not protected, he or she could

contract it and bring it here. That

is why it is important to bring

your family members as well. So

that at least, if the level of

protection goes to beyond 90 per

cent, that person and his family

will be covered.

We have been told that the

double dosage of Astrazeneca

takes us to about 67 per cent,

plus the booster would be about

92 per cent. If that is the case and

a person's family members are not protected, one may come

infected. So, it is important for

every one of us. Those who have

families, bring them as well.

Hon Majority
Leader, thank you so much.
Ancillary staff go beyond our
personal staff such as security
and the rest, but also to the
Police Service Division attached
here. We have the Fire Service
Unit, the health sector, which is
made up of three doctors and
other medical staff. We also
have the invisible ones who take
care of our security and those
who ensure that our constituents
get to know what we do and say
here, that is the Parliamentary
Press Corps.
We also have some
hospitality staff who support us
here. They are all part of the
ancillary staff. So, it is important
we elaborate on this matter for
Members to know that when we
talk about budget of Parliament,
we resource the operational cost
of all these units here. The
budget is not only for Members
of Parliament and staff, but for

all these people even though we

do not pay their salaries. The

logistical support, the

operational cost and all other

things are supported and we

need to motivate them to enable

them provide the necessary

services for us. Budget of

Parliament is not just for

Members of Parliament and staff

of Parliament. Parliament is an

arm of Government and we need

to strengthen and expand it. So,

please take this information

seriously and take advantage of

the opportunity given and do not

deny yourselves other possible

opportunities attached to this. I

am aware of a number of

countries where they would not

allow you to enter if you do not

show evidence of taking two

shots and a booster.

4. 38 p.m.

I am aware of the controversy

around the vaccines, I have not

come across any well-researched

literature that convinces me

enough that these are not good

medical interventions. This is

just for your consumption. We

can disagree on the law but I

would want to alight first, then

we can litigate in court, and it

could take 10 years to do so.

Mr Speaker, I am glad to notice
that you are encouraging people
to take their vaccines and even
take the boosters. However, I
only want this clarification; what
about those of us who have taken
the booster somewhere? We all
know that when one takes the
booster, it would not be
indicated in one's card as the first, the second, or the third one.
Therefore, with those of us who
have taken it outside of
Parliament, how do we show that

I am not aware
of any lawful area where you do
the booster and there is no
indication that you have received
a booster. There is always some
indication, at least, on your card.

Mr Speaker,
the Hon Majority Leader is here
and he could confirm. We had it
at the Jubilee House, and we
were not given any indication to
show. He is here and is aware of
it.

Well, if you
had had it in my House, you
would have had evidence, but
you had it in the Jubilee House.

Anyway, when you have a

booster, you do not go for a

second one, but please, I think it

is important there is some other

document which they call the

Polymerase Chain Reaction

(PCR), which you would need to

produce from time to time. So,

you must have some evidence.

The Hon Minister may go back

to that place and see if she could

get something.

Mr Speaker, on this subject
matter, I do agree with the Hon
Hawa Koomson. I took the two
jabs in the country, and the
booster outside the country, but
there is no indication that says it
was a booster. This is the third
one that I have taken, and I have
the two cards here. [Hon
Member shows cards to the
House.] This is the one that I
took in the country, and this is
also the card for the booster.
However, it is not written on the
card that it is a booster. The Rt
Hon Speaker said it has to be
indicated. Therefore, with what
the Hon Minister is saying, if she
does not have any evidence to
support it, that one would be a
different matter, but some of us
have another card that supports
the one that they gave to us to
indicate that we have taken the
two jabs. There is also a third
card they gave to us to indicate
that we have taken the booster.
However, if one reads it, it is not
written on it that it is a booster,
but they ensure that one is given
a booster for the type of vaccine
that one took. So, if it is not
written on it as a booster, then it
does not - [Interruption.] -

Hon Members,
please it is important, but be
assured that for Parliament, there
would be an indication that you
have taken a booster.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the
opportunity. For the purpose of
education, I would want to say
that whenever one is given a
vaccine, one must be given some
record that one has taken that
vaccine. It should include the
batch number and the type of
vaccine. In this case, I would be
surprised that any person, be it
an Hon Member of Parliament or
not, is given a vaccine and does
not have a record to show. With
even the booster, one needs a
record of where one was given
that vaccine, the type of vaccine
given, the batch number of that

vaccine, and all the associated

information that concerns that

vaccine.

It might not be listed as a

booster vaccine, but it would

indicate that it is the third

vaccine that one is taking. It is

very important because

wherever one would go, this

information would be needed to

ascertain that, indeed, one took

that particular vaccine.

Therefore, if one was not given

such a card, then the person may

have to go back to where the

person took that vaccination for

this very important record to be

given.

I think that it is
now appropriate for us to -

Mr Speaker, this is just to
confirm the information given
by the Hon Minister responsible
for Fisheries and Aquaculture
Development. In fact, when the
boosters arrived, some people
made some uninformed
statements about them, and that
was when the President
beseeched us to take the boosters
to demonstrate that, indeed, they
were genuine, and all of us had
to submit.
Unfortunately, we were told
that the cards were not available
at the time but they took our
details and said that they would
supply the cards later. So, that is
the state of affairs. Once they
come here, certainly, once a
person submits himself, he
would be given a card to show
the kind of vaccine that has been
applied and the date for the
application of the vaccine. So,
that should be how it should be
done.

Thank you so
much, Hon Majority Leader.
Hon Members, I would
proceed to adjourn the House.
As I indicated, the House would
be having a Joint Caucus
Meeting therefore, this House
should now adjourn till
tomorrow at 10.00 a.m. in the
forenoon, when we shall
reconvene to continue with the
Business of the House. The
House is accordingly adjourned.