Debates of 24 May 2022

Hon Members,
I have three messages from H. E.
the President addressed through
me to the House while we were
on recess. He is constitutionally
mandated to do so and since we
were not available, I could not
deliver them on his behalf to the
House. I have the first one dated
29th April, 2022.

The second one is dated 8th May, 2022, and it reads:

The third and last Communication from the President is dated 11th

May, 2022 and reads:

Hon Members, we would

now move to item numbered 3,

which is a formal commu-

nication from my good self, after

which I would give the

opportunity to the Leaders to

also make some remarks.

Hon Members,
with great pleasure and high
expectations, I welcome you
back from the recess of the First
Sitting of the Second Session of
the Eighth Parliament. You are
most welcome!
I would then have to draw
your attention to the Agenda of
this Meeting. Hon Members, you
all have a fair sense of the state
of security in the country and the
mood of the people. I do not
need to tell you the implications
on the nation and on each one of
us. You are also aware of the
recent decisions and directives
of the Supreme Court and other
courts of competent jurisdiction
in a number of cases that affect
the way we conduct affairs in
this House. We may disagree
with their decisions, but we are
bound by those decisions and we
have to comply and obey. We
have been called upon by those
decisions to take action to
review the composition and
procedures of the House. The
earlier we do that, the better it is
for the country and for all of us.
Hon Members, we definitely
cannot do this alone. Other
stakeholders would have to be
given the opportunity to assist us
do so. Consequently, in
consultation with the Leadership
of the House, Parliament has
decided to create a platform for
our partners in academia, legal
and governance practitioners to
lead a more focused and detailed
discussion on the implications
and effects of the decisions on
the practice and procedure of
Parliament, and the relationship
between the Judiciary and the
Legislature. Such a national
discourse will provide valuable
inputs to enable

Welcome Address

Parliament revise and refine

our rules, laws and Standing

Orders to comply with the

provisions of the 1992

Constitution of Ghana.

Hon Members, as part of the

agenda of this Meeting and the

rest of the Session, Parliament

would dedicate more attention to

its oversight function, while we

continue to put in all legal efforts

and processes to consolidate the

strengthening of the institution

of Parliament, and the

empowerment of hon Members

to perform their duties and

responsibilities effectively and

responsively.

In this second Meeting, we

would take further vigorous

steps to strengthen the hand of

the House to hold Government

and State institutions

accountable to the people for the

power, trust, resources and hope

reposed in them. The Executive

President, assisted by the

Cabinet and State institutions

shall be called upon to account

for the stewardship of the

country. This is the area that

Parliament would focus on this

year, and we would go on to

consolidate our efforts on

representation next year. Last

year, we spent some efforts

trying to strengthen the

institution of Parliament, which

included the staff, and provided

the necessary facilities to

support hon Members to perform

their functions. This is the

programme that has been laid

out for our attention.

Hon Members, to succeed to

implement this agenda,

Parliament itself must be open,

transparent and accountable to

the people. As the saying goes,

"Charity begins at home". As the

constitutional and legal head of

the institution of Parliament, the

spokesperson, the arbitrator and

guarantor of its authority,

independence and privileges, I

pledge to lead this effort by

example.

Together with Leadership, I

will initiate discussions with

relevant State actors to put in

place measures and systems to

ensure that all hon Members, and

staff of Parliament comply with

the declaration of assets

regulations, tax obligations and

honour on time, all outstanding

Welcome Address

issues of overpayment and

underpayment reported on by the

Auditor-General, from 2001 to

ensure that they are retired and

settled by whoever is affected

without any further delay.

Sooner than later, hon Members

would be informed through the

usual channels about how this

will be done. The proposal is to

put a team in place to liaise with

State and non-State actors to

smoothen the compliance and

implementation of these

initiatives.

Hon Members, it is important

for us to erase the perception of

the public on these matters of

overpayments, which have

politically been called double

payments. It is a weakness of the

system, and all the presidential

committees have commented on

these matters. It is from the

experience from 1993 to date

which has led to some of these

unfortunate overpayments

because of the movement of hon

Members of Parliament from

just an ordinary Member of

Parliament to being a Deputy

Minister or Minister and the

documentation to be able to

capture this that sometimes

results in this overlap or

movement of hon Members to

perform other functions.

Definitely, as an experienced

hon Member of Parliament, what

hon Members do is to call their

banks and ask if they have some

money in their accounts. Once

the bank says no, they issue a

cheque for some activities in

their constituency or to support a

member or student who needs

help from the hon Member of

Parliament, and that is what we

go through. One does not go

asking whether this is salary or

an allowance or whatever. So,

these are overpayments as a

result of the weaknesses of the

system, and not that Members

intentionally go round taking

double salaries. We need to put

this to rest in order to position

ourselves properly to enable us

do our work. I intend to, with the

support of the Leadership and

the Parliamentary Service

Board, do this with dispatch.

Leadership of the House, the

Parliamentary Service Board

(PSB) and the Speaker will

continue to deepen and widen

the scope of the already cordial

Welcome Address

relationship between the

Judiciary and the Legislature. As

arms of Government, Ghanaians

expect nothing from both

institution but to see us work in

harmony for the betterment of

their lives and the development

of the country.

Hon Members, I would also

take this opportunity to bring to

your attention, the unfinished

agenda of the First Meeting of

this Session. There is a lot of

outstanding business — Private Member's Bills, Government and Parliamentary — to be completed, and we have to get

them completed in this Meeting.

I urge the Majority Leader and

Leader of Government Business,

who also doubles as the Minister

for Parliamentary Affairs,

Members and the Table Office

led by the Clerk, to pursue with

zeal and enthusiasm, the

outstanding businesses; they

must be brought before the

House for due consideration.

Hon Members, in the

meantime, what is still in a draft

legislative programme for this

Second Meeting of the Second

Session of the Eight Parliament,

and which has been made

available to me, include a

number of agreements, Motions

to be moved for Resolutions, and

a number of new Bills to be

introduced by the Government.

A number of Private Members' Bills are also ready, and I must

commend the hon Members who

have decided to sponsor these

Bills. With the facilitation of the

Parliamentary Service, these

Bills are now ready for

presentation. I would just

mention a few of them, and

direct the Clerk to make copies

of the Agenda available to all

hon Members of Parliament

since they need to know what is

there for us this Meeting and the

next. These Bills include: the

Conduct of Public Officers' Bill;

Contracts (Amendment) Bill; the

Ghana Industrial Property Bill;

Intestate Succession Bill; and the

Notaries Public (Amendment)

Bill. We have many more such

as the National Sugar Industry

Development Board Bill; the

Ghana Road Fund (Amendment)

Bill; the Petroleum Revenue

Management (Amendment) Bill;

the Ghana Roads Authority Bill;

the Local Government Authority

Welcome Address

Bill; and many other Bills

available for our consideration.

Additionally, some subsi-

diary legislations would have to

be introduced. They include: the

Civil Proceedings (Fees and

Allowances) (Amendment)

Rules; Companies Regulations;

Compensation for Acquitted

Persons Rules; Copyright

Regulations and the Council of

State (Staff) Regulations. The

others are: the Ghana Industrial

Designs and Regulations,

Judicial Service Regulations,

Legal Aid Commission

Regulations, Legal Profession

(Enrolment) (Amendment)

Regulations, and the Plant

Variety Protection Regulations.

To the best of my knowledge,

the Attorney-General has

already communicated to

Parliament through the Table

Office on these Bills and

Instruments.

However, other Bills require

urgent attention during this

Meeting. These include, and I

must emphasise this: the

Affirmative Action Bill. Hon

Members, it has long been on the

back burner, and I think

Ghanaians can no longer wait.

The duty to pass laws rests on

Parliament, not on the

Executive. In whatever form that

Bill is, please I call on the

agencies to present it to the

House. Whatever the situation is,

the relevant Committee would

have to invite the same

stakeholders to appear before the

Committee before the Report is

presented. So the long delay of

the Affirmative Action Bill is

giving a disastrous blow to our

programme of empowering our

better halves and getting them, if

not to equal us, to enable them

support us to deliver the goods.

The representation of women in

this House is nothing to write

home about, because many

African countries have gone up

to the 30 per cent and beyond.

We are still at 14.5 per cent,

claiming to be a shining example

of democratic governance in

Africa. This is one of the urgent

Bills that we have to take on and

get it done with.

We are also expecting the

Aged Persons Bill, and another

critical bill — the Budget Act, I should say, Bill because it has

not yet been passed. We need to

Welcome Address

create the opportunity for

Parliament to have an early entry

into the processes of the Budget

and to enable it to create the

necessary platform to engage for

ourselves the expertise that we

need to support us to be able to

analyse the Budget and support

Government to do a better job.

Each hon Member of Parliament

should be able to tell his or her

constituents how the Consti-

tuency would benefit from the

Budget every year. We are not

able to do that because we do not

have the requisite personnel in

the House to support hon

Members to go through these

details. We do not get to know

what percentage goes to the

benefit of children or women;

we do not get to know that. We

need to create that opportunity,

and the Budget Act would

support us to do that.

Hon Members, I also want

to take this opportunity to urge

Committees to comply with the

provisions of the Standing

Orders and report to the House,

the reasons for the delay in

submitting a number of Reports

on referrals pending before

them. I want to mention the

names of some of these Com-

mittees, particularly, the Com-

mittee on Constitutional, Legal

and Parliamentary Affairs,

Privileges Committee, Subsi-

diary Legislation Committee and

some sector Committees,

including the Lands and Forestry

Committee.

We have referred a number

of things to you. If you have any

challenges, the Standing Orders

says you should report to the

House why you cannot submit

those reports within the

stipulated time.

The last Meeting ended

without the House receiving any

such report and I want to remind

you for the second time for you

to take action. The Standing

Orders Committee may be

compelled to take action against

such Committee Members.

Hon Members, you were

informed long ago that the Rent

Bill and the Ghana Road

Authority Bill as well as the

Local Road Authority Bill will

be before this House. They have

Welcome Address

not yet appeared. I want to call

on the sponsoring agencies to

take the necessary steps to

present these Bills for scrutiny

and possible passage by

Parliament during this Meeting.

With this, I want to urge the

Business Committee as well as

the Leadership of the Caucuses

to dialogue more often, using the

well-known usual channels of

communication in the conduct of

business of the House, and come

out with proposals to assist the

House to find solutions to these

problems. We must, and I would

like to plead with Hon Members

to eschew excessive partisanship

and demonstrate concern for the

plight of the ordinary citizen,

and chart the path that would

help ameliorate the pain and

suffering of the Ghanaian.

With these few remarks, I

once again, welcome you all to

the Second Meeting of the

Second Session of the Eighth

Parliament of the Fourth

Republic of Ghana.

May God grant us peace,

wisdom, and the love for the

common good. I thank you all

for your attention. [Hear!

I would now give the

opportunity to the Leaders to

also make their remarks, starting

with the Minority Leader.

But
what if he is the cause?

[Laughter] Mr Speaker, this is a
welcome remark, so I welcome
Hon Colleagues back to this
Session of the First Sitting of the
Second Meeting of the
Parliament of the Republic of
Ghana.
Mr Speaker, there is also the
news of the declassification of
Achimota Forest and lands and
public officers and politicians
grabbing lands in the name of the
Republic. Without any
hesitation, this must be treated as
an urgent matter. The President
should open a public inquiry into
the declassification of Achimota
lands and let the public know
who got what, for what and how
much. We need to appreciate
that even the reliance on an
Executive Instrument 144, the
Forest Act of 1927 — that is an outdated law.
Let me remind the President
and the Leadership that he
should go and take a look at the
Land Use and Spatial Planning
Act, 2016 (Act 926) — Rezoning and Reclassification.
The mandate was not given to
the President. So, we would need
to welcome ourselves back from
the recess, dealing with these
issues.
Mr Speaker, we are back.
We would support you to deepen
accountability and transparency
even as you struggle for
financial resources with the
Clerk. I am told that Parliament
itself is suffering from 30 per
cent or 50 per cent cut. Also,
releases have not been done. The
Hon Majority Leader is smiling.
Welcome back. His flight only
threatened him and he managed
to survive.

Welcome Address

So, Mr Speaker, I welcome our Hon Colleagues back and wish everybody well. I know that our Colleagues on the other Side have started some party elections in earnest. Very soon, we would follow suit. We wish them well. Except that, our democracy must survive the threat of monetisation.

Mr Speaker, on those other

matters that you referred to, I wish someday, I would share my view on those payroll anomalies that you mentioned because I have evidence that I was underpaid and overpaid. The Clerk to Parliament would have to give that evidence to me but as we bring the matter to closure, I would need to understand that it was an administrative payroll error which is situated since 1993. Even the Auditor-General has commented on those issues but our integrity has been taken to the cleaners as if, like you rightly said, those acts were done.

Mr Speaker, I would request

that I have some further

clarification on it.

So, Hon Colleagues, I

would welcome the Hon

Majority Leader and his Whips.

They should show that they are

in charge of this House. They

should not be struggling for

numbers for major decisions,

and be asking the Rt Hon

Speaker to postpone and defer

decisions. Let us play to

anything you introduce here, and

not wait until somebody thinks

that he has a plus one or a minus

one or two. We should play to

the rules. The President should

be encouraged to show strength

and courage. I know that if the

Hon Majority Leader were there,

he would have done some

reshuffling.

Mr Speaker, on this note, I

welcome Hon Colleagues back

to the House.

Hon Majority
Leader?
Majority Leader (Mr Osei
Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu): Mr
Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity afforded me to make
a few remarks.

Welcome Address

Mr Speaker, to begin with, I

would like to plead with the Hon

Minority Leader to consider the

fact that these are early days, and

he should not lead me into

temptation [laughter]. Let me

also add my voice to welcome

Hon Colleagues back to this

House after a rather short recess

period. I hope that we have had

sufficient recovery during the

recess to enable us transact the

business that is before us, which

is a rather tall order as you have

mentioned.

Mr Speaker, as we all

recollect, the First Session was

the most eventful. There was a

lot of turbulence, which we all

did overcome and landed rather

safely at the end of the day.

Mr Speaker, the House, on

most occasions, was full because

of the anticipations of the time. I

want to believe that now that we

have been able to overcome the

rumble strips, this Meeting

would also see a similar high

attendance.

Mr Speaker, you related to a

platform that you would like to

create for some academics and

some civil society operatives to

interrogate the ruling from the

Supreme Court insofar as they

relate to Parliament. You said

that many disagreed with the

rulings from the Supreme Court.

I dare say that many also agreed

with the rulings of the Supreme

Court.

Mr Speaker, a platform to

interrogate decisions of the

Supreme Court at the instance of

Parliament with respect to those

rulings relating to Parliament

gives me a lot of discomfort. I

have no idea who the civil

society operatives are or who the

members of the academia are.

One can only hope that the

persons nominated are going to

present a very balanced analysis,

and not yield to any other

temptations to come and

disparage the Supreme Court.

Mr Speaker, you rightly

mentioned a very contentious issue which is now saturating the environment. It has to do with the declaration of assets. The assets that are declared, by our constitution in article 286, have to be lodged with the Auditor- General. The rationale for this is

Welcome Address

for the Auditor-General to interrogate assets acquired by public officers. Unfortunately, the construct of the Constitution is such that once they are lodged with the Auditor-General, he himself is disabled from opening the assets so declared to ensure that people who have acquired assets respond to their tax liabilities. It is the reason the assets are lodged with the Auditor-General. For whatever reason, our own constitution threads a different path where it is deposited with the Auditor- General and that is the end of it.

Mr Speaker, I believe we

have to look at the Constitution again insofar as it relates to assets declaration.

Mr Speaker, come to think

of it, article 286(5) lists the public officers who must submit to the assets declaration. Curiously, some notable officers are left out. For instance, the members of the Council of State are not there, and the Serious Fraud Office, who are the watchmen of the system. There is also the Special Prosecutor, the former Serious Fraud Office, which is the Economic and Organised Crime Office

(EOCO). They are the watchmen of the system, and so we should have a system to watch the watchmen, yet the Constitution does not require them to submit themselves to this. Even now, the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) are not there. We all know what is happening.

We need to have a second

look at article 286, the Constitution, and I am not too sure if it is an entrenched position. But if it is not, what it means is that Parliament can certainly attend to it. Unfortunately, article 286 which is on the Code of Conduct for Public Officers is entrenched. Parliament could add to article 286(5)(j). The same issue would play up. Remember when we said we should add to a provision, people were saying that we wanted to amend the Constitution through the back door. The same affliction would apply to this. Where do we go? It is one of the reasons some of us are calling for a holistic review of this Constitution because it has served its purpose, but I say that we must now look at that and see what we would need to do.

Welcome Address

Mr Speaker, the Hon

Minority Leader raises a very

important matter, with respect to

the borrowing powers of any

particular government. I agree

with him in principle that we

should restrict governments

from overborrowing. But for

him to tell us that we can make a

law to say, for instance, that we

cannot go beyond 70 per cent,

what if they come and hit 69 per

cent from 50 per cent and say

that the next government should

not borrow beyond 70 per cent,

what is the rationale behind that

proposition? Perhaps, we could

relate it to a percentage of the

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

to say that a government cannot

borrow more than 5 per cent of

the GDP at a particular time, say

for a four-year period or 6 per

cent over a four-year period.

That, in my view, would be

much more meaningful than

telling us to apply a slide rule,

where one cannot go beyond 70

per cent. So, they get to 69.5 per

cent and the succeeding

government cannot go beyond

70 per cent. What sense would

that make? In my view, we

would not add value to it. So, we

could have a measuring rod, and

I think the better one would be

for us to apply some defined

percentage. Parliament is

capable of doing that.

Mr Speaker, what does it

mean that if Government cannot

overly borrow, then Government

must look inside to raise funds to

develop the country, yet when

there is an e-levy, we have an

opposition creating a gridlock.

How do they want Government

to raise resources?

Mr Speaker, the Hon

Minority Leader is saying that

we should “sell kola”; I am quoting him. The kola is gone.

You do know that we no longer

export kola to Nigeria because

kola farms have dried up.

Mr Speaker, I just returned

today, and I run into some

floods. I am told that it rained

heavily overnight. We need to

really, as a Parliament, be

informed about the causes of the

floods, especially, in Accra. The

other day, when Prof Kwabena

Frimpong Boateng, in his

capacity as the Minister for

Welcome Address

Environment, Science and

Technology, made a profound

presentation to Cabinet as to

what causes the flooding

situation with the least

downpour in Accra, it was most

informative. I want to pray that

we create a platform for

Parliament to be informed and

educated so that when we have

bills coming before us — I have realised that for this Meeting, we

are going to deal with The Land

Use and Spatial Planning

Amendment Bill, 2022. I think it

is something that we need in the

system.

We also need to bring on

board the assemblies because

they are granting the certificate

for development and many of

them least understand the

concept of appropriate land use

and spatial planning. So, Mr

Speaker, it is a herculean task for

all of us and indeed, we must live

up to our responsibilities.

Finally, I would just want to

add a little bit to what the Hon Minority Leader related to, which is the conduct of internal primaries for political parties. Mr Speaker, I agree with him

that as we move along, increasingly, we are overly monetising our politics. I keep saying that there is nobody in politics who is a ‘Father Christmas' or a ‘Mother Christmas'. If we twist their hands to make any payments of kola, drinks or whatever, they will live tomorrow to reap their harvest. We must come together as political parties to cure this mischief, otherwise, we are treading on very slippery grounds, and people, sooner rather than later, may lose confidence in this democratic experiment. Democracy is supposed to yield good dividends that would inure to the benefit of the people governed, not those governing. Let us live up to our responsibility.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for

On behalf of
the House, I would thank the Hon Leaders for their remarks, but before I move to the next item, it is important I correct some wrong impressions that have been created from my remarks.

Welcome Address

I never stated in my remarks

that many disagree with the

decision of the Supreme Court;

no! I said we may disagree with

those decisions but we are bound

by them and we have to comply

and obey. The platform that is

being provided is not to

interrogate the rulings or

judgments of the Supreme

Court. I said that we cannot, as a

House, review our laws, rules

and Standing Orders alone; we

need other stakeholder inputs.

So, what I said was that

consequently, in consultation

with the Leadership of the

House, Parliament has decided

to create a platform for our

partners in academia, legal and

governance practice, to lead a

more focused and detailed

discussion on the implications

and effects of the decisions of

the Court on the practice and

procedure of Parliament, and the

relationship between the

Judiciary and the Legislature.

I have not said we are to

interrogate the judgement of the

Supreme Court; that is a

different thing altogether. So,

our partners in the media should

please do the right reporting and

should not be misled by those

remarks.

I would like
to draw the attention of Hon
Members to the presence of
distinguished visitors, who are at
their right position at the
Visitors' Gallery. These
distinguished visitors are being
hosted by us, and they are from
the Republic of Zambia; to be
specific, the National Assembly
of Zambia. They are here on a
benchmarking visit to try to
learn from us and share their
experiences and knowledge with
this House.
Hon Members, they are
being led by, and I have the
pleasure to introduce her, the Rt
Hon Ms Nelly Mutti. She is an

Announcements

Hon Member of Parliament and the Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia. [Hear! Hear!]. So, the National Assembly of Zambia is being led and presided over by a beautiful lady. [Hear! Hear!] With her are other Hon Colleague Members of Parliament who have come to learn from their Hon Colleagues here. They would want to go into the in-depth working of Parliaments, particularly, the Parliament of Ghana.

The visit is also to create the

platform for networking and so we expect that we use the Friendship Association to create friendship between the Parliament of Ghana and the Parliament of Zambia. In fact, it is the National Assembly of the Zambia because their Parliament is different from our Parliament. Their Parliament includes the President, but their National Assembly is without the President. Therefore, we have to learn from each other and see how we could improve and deepen the cordial relationship between the two countries.

The Members of Parliament

accompanying her are five in number, and I would just, with

your kind permission, mention their names and positions. The first is Hon Brian Mundubile, and he is a Member of Parliament and the Leader of the Opposition. [Hear! Hear!] [Interruption] — The Hon Haruna Iddrisu is not the Leader of the Opposition Leader; he is the Hon Minority Leader. [Laughter] There is a vast difference between the two and we must get the concept clearly. He is not here to oppose; he is here to give alternative views and opinions that would convince the good people of Ghana to give him the opportunity to be in Government, not to oppose Government. [Interruption] — Yes, it is because I was there that I know. [Laughter]

Hon Members, the second

We also have three other

Members of Parliament, but I have not been given their positions. We have Hon Stephen Kampyongo, Hon Machila Jamba, and the third Member of Parliament, who is Hon Nickson Chilangwa.

Announcements

Mr Speaker, we could move on
to the presentation of the
Business Statement for the
week.

Hon
Members, before we go to the
presentation of the Business
Report, we would have to do the
usual thing; the correction of
Votes and Proceedings and the
Official Report. I thought
maybe, there was something else
I could say before going on to do
that. We would start with the
Votes and Proceedings of
Tuesday, 5th April, 2022.

Page 1…11 —

Announcements

Mr Samuel Okudzeto

Ablakwa — rose —

Mr Speaker,
I am most grateful. At item
numbered (9) on page 11, the
Ministry for Communications
and Digitalisation has been
captured wrongly.
“Digitalisation” should be amended to read as
“Digitalisation”, and not “Digitilisation”. So, I would be grateful if the correction could
be made accordingly.

Table Office,
kindly take note.
Page 12, 13 —
Mr Seidu Issifu — rose —

Yes, Hon
Member?

Thank you, Mr
Speaker. On page 13, under the
item numbered (e), we have the
“Investigative Report of the Committee on Youth, Sports and
Culture, on the abysmal
Performance…”. “Performance” is supposed to begin with a small
“p”, not capital “P”.

Hon Member,
thank you for drawing our
attention. Table Office, please
take note.
Page 14…16 —
Mr Ablakwa — rose —

Yes, Hon
Ablakwa?

Mr Speaker,
in the table at page 16, the Ghana
Education Trust Fund
(GETFund) formula, the figures
do not up to 100 per cent. I got
99.99 per cent. Considering that
all the decimal points have been
indicated, I would like to believe
that there is an error somewhere.
So, if it could be re-tallied.
I am grateful, Mr Speaker.

Table Office,
please take note. Have a look at
the Report submitted by the
Committee, and in discussion,
get the right rendition. — [Pause] — So, as I said, liaise

Announcements

with the Committee and get the

proper thing rectified.

Page 17…19 —

Mr Ablakwa — rose —

Yes, Hon
Ablakwa?

Mr Speaker,
your guidance would be
required. I observe that when it
comes to capturing those who
move and those who second, the
positions of the movers are
captured, that is, the Chairman
of the Committee. But when it
comes to the seconders, we only
have “by the Hon Member for Odododiodioo, Mr Edwin Nii
Lantey Vanderpuye”. He is the Ranking Member. I notice that
consistently, the positions of the
Ranking Members are not
recognised or acknowledged;
only that of the Chairmen are. I
do not know if that is what the
practice should be or we would
want to acknowledge that they
are not just members of the
Committees, but that they are
Ranking Members, just as we do
for the Chairmen. And I see that
running through even for the
Health Committee as well. The
Chairman is captured on page 23
and the subsequent pages, but for
the Ranking Members, we only
have, for example, Mr Kwabena
Mintah Akandoh, “Member for Juaboso”. We do not
acknowledge their position as
Ranking Members. I do not
know if that is the practice or it
would be corrected
subsequently.

Well, Hon
Member, you are right. I think
that the titles should be added to
the Ranking Members and the
other Vice Chairmen or what-
ever the title is. That should be
added. Whether the person is
also a Whip or Deputy Whip or
Leader, it should be added, so
that the description is complete.
There should not be any dis-
parity or discrimination in this
matter. The Table Office is blind
when it comes to these things.
Page 20…24 —
Mr Issifu — rose —

Announcements

Yes, Hon
Member?

Thank you, Mr
Speaker. On page 24, item
numbered (26), the amount in
figures is supposed to be
2,919,670,000.00, but there is a
dot in between the 9 and the 6.
There is supposed to be a comma
between the 9 and the 6 to agree
with the amount in words.

Yes, you have
eagle eyes, so, you were able to
see that it is a dot and not a
comma. We are grateful, Hon
Issifu Seidu. That is the Member
for Gambaga. Am I right?

Nalerigu/Gambaga,
Mr Speaker.

Nalerigu/
Gambaga. Thank you so much.
Table Office, please take
note.
Page 25 —
Mr Ablakwa — rose —

Yes, please?

Mr Speaker, I am grateful. Once again, the arithmetic in the table does not add up. The percentages for the formula for the National Health Insurance Fund for the year 2022. Doing the mathematics, one would get 99.96, and not 100 per cent as has been captured. So, I would be grateful if it could be corrected accordingly.

Again, Table
Office, get in touch with the Committee and get the right rendition captured in the Report of the Committee and also on the Votes and Proceedings.
Page 26…29 —
Mr Ablakwa — rose —

Yes?

Mr Speaker,
on page 29, the second paragraph, as you have directed, the same correction for the Hon Ranking Member for the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, Mr Eric Opoku.

Announcements

All right. Table Office, it is a standing directive, and it should be reflected at all times.
Page 30 — 31.
Mr Seidu — rose —

Sorry, yes,
Hon Seidu.

Mr Speaker,
with your permission, I would
like to refer to page 30 instead.
At the second paragraph, there is
“in accordance with the provisions of the said article
181(5) of the Constitution.” I think there is supposed to be a
comma here before the sentence
continues.

Yes, you are
right. After you drawing our
attention, I may want to add that
the attention of the Table Office
be drawn to some of these minor
punctuations and the rest for it to
be done outside the Correction
of Votes and Proceedings, else
we would always spend hours
just trying to edit what they have
done already. Yes, after the word
“Constitution”, there should be a
comma. Correction of Votes and
Proceedings Page 31 - 43.

Hon
Members, in the absence of any
further corrections to the Votes
and Proceedings of the 42nd
Sitting held on Tuesday, 5th
April, 2022, the said Votes and
Proceedings are hereby adopted
as the true record of proceedings.
Hon Members, we will now
move on to the Official Report.
And I have in my possession the
Official Report of Tuesday, 15th
March, 2022. Any corrections?

Mr Speaker,
at column 5, the headnote “RTI” should be corrected. Also, at
column 7, the first “2” in the year “‘2022' RTI request” has been omitted, so there is “022”, instead of “2022”. In the last line of the same paragraph, in
“institutions as of the end ‘of January' 2022”, we need a space between “of” and “January”.

Hon Member,
that is well noted.
Table Office, kindly take
note.

Announcements

Mr
Speaker, I think there are quite a
lot of grammatical errors in this
Report and I wonder whether I
can correct all of them but I
would try. At column 47,

Hon Member,
do you mean paragraph 47 or
column 47?

Column 47.
“Last week, I was at the dumpsite at Kpone and I was
mortified to realise that over 70
per cent of those pickers and
handlers are mostly women.
That area has to be looked at
carefully. I would consult the
Acting Hon Minister for Gender,
Children and Social Welfare so
that we can find ways to help
those women”
Mr Speaker, I believe it
should read “I will consult the Acting Hon Minister”, not “I would”.
Mr Speaker, also at column
50, and I read:
“Those plastics are mostly ‘single used' and under 20 microns”.
It should be “single use”. Again, under column 50, this
mistake has been replicated in
several places, so the Table
office should take note.
Most of them refer to
model, not modules. So, in this
particular instance I read:
“model” is what is being referred, not “module”. In this particular instance, I read, “We would help the private sector to
be able to pick it by retooling the
economic ‘module' so that…”
Again, I believe that there is
a grammatical error with “we would come with a system”, which should be “will”. So, I would take it again:
“We will come with a system that will make it viable for
plastic money to be invested
in it so that the large dregs
of plastics can be collected” and not ‘are collected'.
Mr Speaker, at column 52,
there is again a reference to “secular economy”. It is not “secular” as in the religious sense; it is “circular”. It emanates from a circle, so it

Announcements

would be reused and reused over again. And that has also been replicated in several places.

Mr Speaker, for now, I think

these are the errors that I have found.

Hon Member,
thank you very much. We have taken note of it.
Table Office, kindly draw
the attention of the Department of Official Report to do the necessary corrections.
Hon Members, in the
absence of any further corrections to the Official Report of Tuesday, 15th March, 2022, the Official Report as corrected is hereby adopted as the true records of proceedings. Hon Members, we will now move on to the item numbered 5 on the Order Paper — the Business Statement for the First Week, to be presented by the Chairman of the Business Committee.
Majority Chief Whip (Mr
Frank Annoh-Dompreh — rose —

Yes, Hon
Majority Chief Whip?

Mr
Speaker I seek your leave to
present the Business Statement
on behalf of the Chairman of the
Business Committee — Leader of the House.

Yes, Minority
Front Bench?

Deputy Minority Whip

(Mr Ahmed Ibrahim): Mr

Speaker, the Hon Member is a

member of the Business

Committee, and per our rules, he

qualifies to present the Report on

behalf of the Chairman.

Hon Chief
Whip for the Majority, you may
go on.

Hon
Members, the Business State-
ment has been presented, it is
now available for comments by
Hon Members, if necessary.
Yes, Hon Ato Forson?

Business of the House

Mr
Speaker, thank you. I make
reference to the Business
Statement on page numbered — there are no pages — before item numbered 2. The pages have not
been numbered so if we count it
from the front, it is page 4, item
“c”.

“This honourable House adopt the Report of the
Finance Committee and the
Annual Public Management
Debt Report for the 2020
financial year.
Mr Speaker, this was laid in
Parliament as far back as April
2021. Parliament debated it in
November 2021, but as we
speak, we have not been able to
get this particular out of the way.
Again, per the Public Financial
Management Act, 2016 (Act
921), Ministry of Finance had to
lay the Public Debt Report for
the year 2021 at the end of first
quarter 2022. Mr Speaker, the
first quarter is long gone but we
do not have the Annual Public
Debt Report for 2021.
Mr Speaker, just last Friday,
the Bank of Ghana as part of the
Monetary Policy Committee
Report said to all of us in a press
statement and a release that
Ghana's public debt is GH₵391
billion excluding energy sector
levies, synohydro debt and the
Daakye bond. If we add all of
them our public debt GH₵409
billion — [Uproar] — It is at the
ceiling, yet the Report is not
before us to consider it.
Mr Speaker, I am worried
about this matter, because at this
stage the Central Bank as a result
of our debt levels had to hike the
policy rate to 19 per cent.
Inflation in now almost 24 per
cent; almost everything is down
the drain. That is why I believe
that it is now time for the House
to consider the debt report
urgently. The House should call
on the Ministry of Finance to
bring the 2021 Debt Report to
Parliament for the House to
debate on it appropriately. We
have passed the first quarter; we
are in the second quarter but the
Debt Report is not before the
House.

Business of the House

Mr Speaker, this is not

acceptable and it is against the

Public Financial Management

Act 2016 (Act 921) and we

should call on the Ministry of

Finance to act appropriately.

Yes, Hon
Peter Kwasi Nortsu-Kotoe.

Mr
Speaker, thank you. On the same
page, the Business for
Wednesday, 25th May, 2022,
item iv(c): “That this honourable House resolves to amend the
Earmarked Funds Capping and
Realignment Act, 2017 (Act
947) to delete the Ghana
Education Trust Fund from the
list of the capped agencies from
the 2023 financial year to enable
it receive enough funds to make
the Fund operate fully on its
mandate to improve upon
education and infrastructure.”
Mr Speaker, when we were
approving the formula for
GETFund this year, this motion
was taken alongside with the
formula. It is unfortunate I do
not have my copy of the Report
here, but if you go back — the Table Office can help us, it is
there. So this motion was carried
on that day alongside the
approval of the estimates for
GETFund. What is left now is
the bill which the legal
department is working on. So,
there is no need to bring it back
for us to take it again.
Mr Speaker, thank you.

Yes, Hon
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa: Mr Speaker, thank
you for the opportunity. I thank
the Hon Majority Chief Whip for
the presentation of the Business
Statement except to place on
record that the Papers to be
presented item numbered 1
(ii)(c) on Tuesday, 24th May,
2022. The pages are not
numbered, so I think it is the
penultimate page, item
numbered 1 (ii)(c) — the Annual Report on the Staffing Position
of the Office of the President for
the period January to December,
2021. It is important to place on
record that the law is very clear.
Section 11 of the Presidential
Office Act, 1993 (Act 463), the
President has three months to

Business of the House

present this report to Parliament.

He should not go beyond the

month of March in any given

year — the end of March. This Report is now going to be

presented in May — the last week of May.

Mr Speaker, this House

should be treated with respect;

our laws should be complied

with. The President had the

whole of January, February, and

the whole of March. We are in

the end of the month of May and

the Report is now going to be

presented. This practice should

not continue and we need to send

respectfully, a message to the

Presidency that they should

comply with the laws of the land,

and they should respect this

House, so we can strengthen our

democracy and our governance

systems.

Thank you very much Mr

Speaker.

Yes, Hon
James Agalga?

Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. The Report is not numbered but on the item numbered 2, Wednesday, 25th May, 2022, specifically on Motions, if you look at 2(iv)(b), it says:
“That this Honourable House adopts the Investi- gative Report of the Com- mittee on Defence and Interior on the Incident of the Military-Civilian Brutality in Wa.”
Mr Speaker, this is a matter
that was referred to the Com- mittee on Defence and Interior and we travelled all the way to Wa to investigate the alleged military brutalities that were meted out to the people of Wa and duly prepared a report and same laid before this House. Unfortunately, this Report has been in the back burner for far too long. What we sort to achieve by way of recom- mendations in that Report, I am afraid, is getting stale. So I strongly urge and invite that you intervene so that the Report is taken and the recommendations duly adopted.

Business of the House

I believe those recom-

mendations would go a long way

to shape civillian-military

relations in our country. Thank

you for the opportunity.

Yes, Hon
Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor?
Mr Rockson-Nelson Etse
Kwami Dafeamekpor: Mr
Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity to raise some
concerns regarding the Business
of the House presented for the
week. A careful look at the first
page of paragraph 3 of the
Statement gives some details
regarding the number of
Questions that Hon Members
have filed and which have been
admitted. The Statement actually
says that 736 Questions have
been admitted so far by your
good office.
This means that even for
this Meeting starting from today,
which has about 12 weeks, we
would have to take about 61
Questions every week before we
can exhaust the 736 Questions
that have been admitted by you
minus those that would be
admitted from today.
So, I was hoping that for this
week, we would be able to take
some Questions that have
already been admitted and
whose Answers may probably be
ready. It is not likely that we
would be able to deal with all the
Questions that have been
admitted for this Meeting.
Secondly, during the last
Meeting, I knew there were a lot
of Private Members' Motions that had long been admitted and
featured heavily on the Order
Paper which we could not take.
So, having resumed, and
Government Business as well as
the Business of the House being
light, my expectations are that
those Private Members Motions
would be quickly dealt with but,
they are also not featured for this
week. When Business begins to
gather steadily from next week,
they may feature on the Order
Paper but may suffer similar
fate.
Mr Speaker, so, I would like
to urge the Business Committee
to consider those topical ones
that were supposed to have been
taken by Hon Members during

Business of the House

the last Meeting so that we could

deal with them quickly before

the House gets busier. Mr

Speaker, I thank you for the

opportunity.

Yes, Deputy
Minority Chief Whip?

Mr
Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity. In your opening
remarks, you hit the nail right on
the head by saying that we must
have our game on oversight. You
almost declared this Meeting as
the year of oversight.
Mr Speaker, if I have to add
to what the Hon Ranking
Member of the Finance
Committee said in relation to the
specific Motion he quoted on the
Order Paper, it was clearly
moved and debated, and it was
only left for the debate to be
concluded and for the Question
to be put. The reason we could
not put the Question was that we
were scared by the extent of the
ballooning nature of the public
debt stock and we thought we
could meet the Hon Minister of
Finance to decide whether there
should be a scope beyond which
we could not continue to borrow.
Mr Speaker, the Paper was
laid in April, 2021, the Motion
was moved on Thursday,
November, 2021, and we are in
the year 2022; it is almost a year
and there is a new one. That is
clearly not the only Motion;
there are series of them.
Mr Speaker, the other one is
the one cited by Hon James
Agalga. That is the second one
but there is a third one. Even the
Motion relating to those laid by
Private Members on this venture
are all on the Order Paper. They
used to appear on the Order
Paper for a week, disappear the
following week and resurface.
Clearly, the Order Paper is
becoming the Agenda. There is
no way that Motions, Questions
and Papers to be laid must
appear on the Agenda so that we
know that out of this agenda, we
would be picking and presenting
our Business week after week.
However, if this now becomes
the culture of this House, that for
over a year, Motions would be
moved and the House cannot

Business of the House

bring finality to them, I do not

think it would help the Hon

Ministers take their work

seriously.

Mr Speaker, the Business

Statement indicates that

Committees with referrals must

do well to present reports on

those referrals. A case in point

was that, when we were doing

the 2021 Government Financial

Policy Statement of the Hon

Minister for Communication

where, for over six years, she

refused to present the Annual

Report on the National

Communications Authority. The

Committee on Communication

decided and resolved that

without the Hon Minister for

Communication presenting the

six years Annual Report, we

were not going to consider her

Budget. Therefore, we

suspended the Committee

Meeting, and she went to the

office and brought three of the

Reports before the Committee

went back to consider her

Budget Estimates.

Mr Speaker, after pre-

senting the Estimates, the Hon

Chairman of the Commu-

nications Committee had

suffered in being able to

organise a meeting to get the

Minister to come for us to

consider the Report. If

Committees are given referrals

and Ministers are not presenting

themselves to assist the

Committee in going through

We are in May, in just about two

months, we would be

considering the Mid Year

Budget Review. If the Mid Year

Budget Review is presented and

there is something on Commu-

nication and the Committee says

that without bringing finality to

the Annual Report of the

National Communications

Authority, they are not going to

consider the Estimates for that

sector, it would be misconstrued

that the Minority is sabotaging

the work of Government and that

may not auger well.

It is for the essence of

checks and balances that is,

Business of the House

making sure that we bring duty

bearers to account to the public.

It is for the essence of

checks and balances that is, to

make sure that we bring duty

bearers to account to the public

that we operate the Committee

system. Mr Speaker, I would

want to plead with you to give a

serious directive to the

Committees with referrals that

they should not just become a

dumping ground for referrals so

that once there is a referral to it,

then that ends it. That is very

bad.

Mr Speaker, in the Business

Statement, there are a lot of

Performance Annual Reports

that would be laid and I do not

think there are even copies made

available, but once they are laid

and referred to the Committees,

then that ends it. If Parliament

gets to that stage, it would not

auger well for this country. I do

not want to belabour the point

but I would want to put it to the

Hon Majority Chief Whip,

thankfully, he is the one who

should make it a duty to ensure

that Hon Ministers of State

appear and perform their duties.

Mr Speaker, the statement is

available that Committees with

referrals should do well to

present their Reports. The Hon

Ministers must avail themselves.

I have cited mine with regard to

the Committee on Commu-

nications on three of their

Reports. When we said that we

would not consider the Hon

Minister's Budget Statement, she brought three Reports for

2015, 2016 and 2017. So that of

2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 have not

even been presented and we

have not yet considered the three

that she presented. We must up

our game.

I know there are a lot of

those Motions and as leadership,

we must meet to reconcile those

Motions and bring finality to

them and we could start from a

very good page.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I would want to urge my

Government Chief Whip to

make sure that the 69 Bills that

he has spoken of in the Business

Statements —— I have gone

Business of the House

through the Order Paper and

there is no single one of them

and in this, there are only two

and we have 12 weeks. How

would we complete 69 Bills

before the end of business? It is

not enough to just state them, let

us up our game.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon Members,
before we proceed, having regard
to the state of business of the
House, I direct in retrospect that
Sitting be held outside the
prescribed period since it is long
after 2.00 p.m. If you are
interested in continuing, I would
have to call on the Hon First
Deputy Speaker to take the Chair
because our distinguished visitors
are waiting on me.
Hon First Deputy Speaker,
kindly take the Chair.
Hon Chief Whip from the
Majority, do you have any
response?
2.27 p.m. —— [MR FIRST

Mr
Speaker, let me try and respond
to the observations and some
complaints made by Hon
Members, not according to any
order. The Hon Ranking
Member for Finance, Mr Ato
Forson, is spot on with regard to
the matter he raised on the
Annual Public Debt Report,
2021 which is still outstanding.
Not to put out a defense, but for
the fleeting period that I have
been in this House, I have
observed a number of Annual
Reports that have been in
arrears. However, the lesson out
there is that we all need to up our
game. In order not to stretch the
matter further, I would want to
assure my Hon Colleague that
we would work within time
assiduously to make sure that we
dispense off our responsibility
creditably because it casts us in a
very bad light in the image of the
public when these critical
documents are still in arrears and
outstanding. So, we would work
closely with the Table Office to
come atop the situation and deal
with that.

Business of the House

The Hon Ranking Member

for Education, raised a valid

concern. He rightly observed

that the document has become

redundant; the matter has been

dealt with but there is another

flip side which is still pending so

I am sure the Table Office has

taken notice and the matter

would be dealt with accordingly.

With regard to Hon

Ablakwa's concern, I am reliably informed by the Table

Office that the document was

brought to this House on the 28th

March, 2022 and then it got to

the Rt Hon Speaker on the 29th

March, 2022 but eventually, we

worked on it and it came out on

8th April, 2022 and he would also

admit that we went on recess so

all culminated to the undue

delay. It is also a good

observation telling us that we all

need to up our game and be

observant of the constitutional

provisions and the imperatives

we have in our laws, the

timelines and the timetables that

we all need to respect. So, it is a

good observation and I am sure

that leadership would work and

take a lesson from this so that we

do not end up repeating this.

Hon Dafeamekpor lamented

a barrage of questions and he

shows concern how we would be

able to deal with that. I am not

going to put the long standing

experience of the Table Office in

doubt and in question but if we

do the arithmetic, it comes out

clearly that on the face value of

it, it looks difficult but let us take

it in good stride, one at a time,

weekly by weekly and see how it

goes. I am sure when it becomes

necessary that we would need to

amend in terms of the number of

Questions that could be

dispensed off, the Business

Committee would be advised

accordingly and then we would

know what to do.

Mr Speaker, on the Private

Members Motion, leadership

have had the cause to discuss this

matter, that repeatedly, Private

Members Motions have been

advertised on the Order Paper

and it has almost become

redundant, yet repeatedly, we do

not do anything about it. During

the last Business Committee

meeting, we had cause to discuss

it and we said that if we are not

ready to take a particular Private

Member's Motion, it is needless

Business of the House

for us to keep advertising it and

putting it on the Order Paper. If

we look at the Business

Statement for the ensuing week,

we would realise that there is a

limited number of Private

Members Motion captured and it

is because we would want to be

highly certain of our readiness to

take it. There are times that we

put them there and leadership

thinks otherwise. It is a good

observation and going forward, I

am sure all of us would be

guided accordingly, particularly,

the Business Committee.

Hon Ahmed who is my

good friend and his lamentations

on referrals still pending at

Committee levels —— both of us are in leadership and he put me

in the spotlight when he said that

the Government Chief Whip

would have to do more. I would

want to assure him that we

would do more. Even in Mr

Speaker's remarks this morning,

he touched on Committees that

he believes would have to up

their game. So, we would all

need to get closer to our

Committee leadership, not just

the Hon Chairmen but the Hon

Ranking Members also have a

role to play. Let us work together

as a team and where we think

that there is a delay, they should

step up communication with

leadership. The Hon Minority

Chief Whip himself, is also very

active in these matters so that we

would be able to dispense off the

Business of the House.

Having said so, let us work

more as a team, let us show

much more dedication to duty,

let the Committee Chairmen

show leadership. The Hon

Minority Leader has often said

that; “Parliament is as strong as its Committees; that Parliament

is a reflection of its Com-

mittees”. So, both leadership should get closer to the

Committee leadership and

encourage them so that where

they have difficulties, they

would let us know so that

together, we could deal with

these concerns.

Mr Speaker, I am sure I

have answered all the concerns

to the best of my abilities, thank

you.

Business of the House

Very well.
Hon Members, the
Business Statement for the
ensuing week is accordingly
adopted.
Hon Majority Chief Whip,
should I move to item numbered
6?

Mr
Speaker, I engage my Hon
Colleagues —

There are no Statements
admitted by the Rt Hon Speaker
before me, so if I may be guided
by the Hon Leadership.

Mr
Speaker, by way of guidance, I
engaged my Hon Colleague and
we would want to take item
numbered 7(a)(ii).
Mr Speaker, I would seek
your leave for it to be done by the Hon Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection.

Very well.
At the commencement of
Public Business, item numbered 7 — Presentation of Papers
Item numbered 7(a)(ii).

No, it is the next one — item numbered 7(a)(ii).Cape Town Agreement, 2012 (CTA) of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Referred to the Committee
on Roads and Transport.

We are done with item
numbered 7(a)(ii). Would we do
both items numbered 7(a) (i) and
(ii)?

Papers

Yes,
indeed, Mr Speaker.

Very well, then I would go back
to item numbered 7(a)(i). Yes,
Hon Deputy Minister for
Gender, Children and Social
Protection?
By the Deputy Minister for
Gender, Children and Social
Protection (Ms Lariba Zuweira
Abudu) (on behalf of the
Minister for Transport) —
Work in Fishing
Convention, 2007 (No. 188) of
the International Labour
Organisation (ILO).
Referred to the Committee
on Employment, Social Welfare
and State Enterprises
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim —
rose —

Yes, Hon Minority Deputy
Whip?

Mr
Speaker, I know you referred it
to the Committee on
Employment, Social Welfare
and State Enterprises because of
the ILO, but per our Standing
Orders, the Committee on Food,
Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs,
shall deal with all matters
relating to food and agriculture
but fishing falls under
agriculture, so if it could be
referred to a joint Committee, I
would have no problem with that
but to refer it to the Committee
on Employment , Social Welfare
and State Enterprises alone — they may not be well versed with
all the conventions under the
fishing industry but there may be
some conflict of roles. So, to be
on the safer side, if it could be
referred to a joint Committee.

Yes, Hon Majority Chief Whip?

Mr
Speaker, I know my Hon
Colleague spoke out of
experience, which I do not
doubt, but this is an international
convention. We should probably
just add the Leadership of the
Committee on Food, Agriculture
and Cocoa Affair — that would be right and I would support it

but the entire Committee would

be laborious.

Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah — rose —

Yes, Hon Member for Ho West,
Mr Emmanuel Bedzrah?

Mr
Speaker, I have —

Hon First Deputy Minority
Whip, I had given the Floor to
the Hon Member for Ho West.

Mr Speaker, I
am sorry. I did not look behind.

Mr Speaker,
the Hon First Deputy Minority
Whip, is faster than you
recognising him.
Mr Speaker, I would want to
agree with the Hon First Deputy
Minority Whip, that Hon
Members of the two Committees
should be considered to look at
this Convention. It is not only in
this Parliament that we have this.
Even at Economic Community
of West African States
(ECOWAS) Parliament, it is a
joint Committee when it comes
to issues of conventions. They
add all the Committees together
to look at it because expertise
from the various Committees
would not be the same, and
people have their diverse
professional background that
would be brought to bear, but if
we leave it to only the
Leadership, the two Hon
Leaders might not have the
expertise. So, I would want to
suggest we have all the Hon
Members of both Committees on
Food, Agriculture, and Cocoa
Affairs, as well as on
Employment, Social Welfare
and State Enterprises to look at
this.
Thank you very much, Mr
Speaker.

I have also been advised to look
at which Hon Minister presented
the Paper before us, which is the
Hon Minister of Transport, so
we probably should defer and
consider first and determine the
appropriate Committee to refer
the matter to. It was brought by
the Hon Minister for Transport
and it is on labour organisation
and fishing — and I do not want

to refer it to three Committees,

but I think that we should confer

properly and advise. So, I would

defer the referral to attend upon

the Leadership advice.

Yes, Hon Second Deputy

Majority Whip?

Mr
Speaker, at this stage, we are in
your hands for adjournment.

Yes, Hon First Deputy Minority
Whip?

Mr
Speaker, as was agreed upon,
today, we have to close early,
because of the business for
tomorrow so that we could come
to the House early. Also, the
officers would be arranging the
place for tomorrow's business, so I agree with my Hon
Colleague that we are in your
hands.

Very well.
Hon Members, the House is
accordingly adjourned to
Wednesday, 25th May, 2022, at