Debates of 5 Dec 2022

Hon Members, I
have received a message from His
Excellency the President. The
message is dated 3rd December, 2022.
It reads:

Communication from the President

Votes and Proceedings and th

e Official Report

Hon Members, the
item numbered 4 on the Order Paper,
Correction of Votes and Proceedings
and the Official Report.
We would start with the correction
of the Votes and Proceedings of
Thursday, 1st December, 2022.
Page 1 … 9 —
First Deputy Majority Whip
(Mr Habib Iddrisu): Mr Speaker, I
am sorry I have to take us back to the
item numbered 6 on page 8. The Hon
Member for Mion, Mr Musah Abdul-
Aziz Ayaba, is on an official trip to
the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS). He
brought his permission form which
was duly signed by me and referred
to the Office of the Speaker. It is the
same for the items numbered 7 and
18; they all sought permission that
was duly signed by us and referred to
your Office.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon Members, I
would not repeat what I have been
saying every day.
Page 9 … 19?

I have with me a
copy of the Official Report of
Wednesday, 9th November, 2022.

Hon Majority
Leader, you are absolutely right in
this matter. I took notice of it, and I
have requested to meet the Clerk-to-
Parliament and the officers to discuss
these issues. It looks like performance
has really clamp down, and we would
take a serious view of it, particularly,
the cluster heads of Committees and
the clerks to Committees. We have to
get clerks to present minutes of
Committee meetings and all reports,
and there are a few directives I would
issue after the meeting. Immediately
it is not complied with, then they
would have themselves to blame.
You are right, and it should not be
repeated. I think this is sufficient
notice to the clerks to Committees.
Hon Members, with this, the
guidance I have is that we will move
straight to Public Business, and at the
commencement of Public Business —
Majority Chief Whip (Mr
Frank Annoh-Dompreh): Mr
Speaker, at the commencement of
Public Business, shall we begin with
the item numbered 8, on page 3 of
today's Order Paper?

I thought you said we should deal with the Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government before that one, but since you would want us to start with the item numbered 8 instead of 7, we would proceed to the item numbered
8.
At the Commencement of Public
Business, the item numbered 8 - Motion by the Chairman of the Committee.

Any seconder?
Yes, Hon Member for Fanteakwa South?
Ranking Member of the
Committee (Mr Kofi Okyere- Agyekum): Mr Speaker, I rise to second the Motion on the Report of
the Public Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor-General on the Pubic Accounts of Ghana (Public Boards, Corporations and other Statutory Institutions) for the period ended 31st December, 2019.
Mr Speaker, I would make few
comments, particularly, on the
irregularities in relation to GRIDCo.
If we look at paragraph 7.1.4 on page
13 of the Report, among the
irregularities particularly noted with
GRIDCo is the non-existence of
Transaction Service Agreement
(TSA) or customer agreements. It
reads:
“The audit revealed that the company did not have a signed
Transmission Service Agreement
(TSA) with eight customers and
power generators, although its
accounting and finance manual
requires a contract to be in place
for transmission services
rendered. Also, TSAs for seven
customers had expired and have
not been renewed.”
Again, Mr Speaker, if we look at
paragraph 7.1.4.2 - Long Outstanding Trade Receivables, GH₵234,338,331 of trade receivables have not been
collected by GRIDCo, and it is also
part of the contract irregularities.

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Mr Speaker, again, GRIDCo is

cited in paragraph 7.1.4.4 on page 14,

and here, the infraction is “No On- lending Agreement between Volta

River Authority (VRA) and GRIDCo

in Respect of Assets and Liabilities

Transferred”. It reads:

“The audit observed that there was no on-lending agreement

between VRA and GRIDCo in

respect of facilities that VRA

borrowed funds to construct and

transferred to GRIDCo. The

asset was recognised as long-

term liabilities in GRIDCo's accounts.

The Auditor-General advised

Management to engage VRA

and the Ministry of Finance to

conclude an on-lending

agreement, stating the terms of

the facility.

Management revealed to the

Committee that Government

converted the entire amount of

GH₵614,203,518 to equity but failed to pay dividend due to

cashflow challenges”.

Mr Speaker, I think that this is a

matter that must be taken seriously so

that GRIDCo would pay dividends to

GRA and therefore, Government.

Again, there is another one where

there is a dispute between the Bui

Power Authority and GRIDCo on the

amount of indebtedness, and the

Auditor-General has recommended

that this matter, which involves about

GH₵28.96 million, be resolved so that whoever the amount is due can

have it.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I second the Motion.

Question proposed

Mr Murtala Muhammed

Ibrahim (NDC — Tamale Central): Mr Speaker, I rise to

support the Motion for the approval

of the Report of the Public Accounts

Committee on the Report of the

Auditor-General on the Pubic

Accounts of Ghana (Public Boards,

Corporations and other Statutory

Institutions) for the period ended 31st

December, 2019.

Mr Speaker, as part of the

irregularities identified by the

Committee, one irregularity that

attracts my attention, and which is of

tremendous concern to me, and I

believe to many of our Hon

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Colleagues, is the procurement

irregularities.

If we check paragraph 6.1.4., it

indicates that these irregularities

occurred as a result of Management's non-compliance with the provisions

of the Public Procurement Act, 2003

(Act 663) and the total irregularities

amounted to US$3 million, which is

GH₵13,530,000. The Auditor- General, once again, recommended

that Managements of the various

institutions should undertake

procurement transactions strictly for

the adherence of Act 633.

Mr Speaker, these institutions

have legal departments, and the legal

departments were conscious of what

the law says, yet they disregarded this

law and engaged in such actions. It is

the view of the Auditor-General and

my humble opinion that such

institutions should take the necessary

steps to ensure that we do not have a

repeat of this. Having served in the

Committee — at least this is my second year in this Parliament, for all

the problems or infractions that are

identified, the institutions appear

before the Committee and promise

that we would not have a repetition of

same, yet the next Report we take, the

same infractions occur.

Another irregularity has to do

with contract irregularities. If we

look at paragraph 6.1.7., it indicates

that these mainly related to

overpayment of contracts, absence of

signing of contract agreements,

failure to comply with tendering

procedures, delay in construction,

ineffective control over contracts,

and absence of transparency. These

are serious infractions, but once

again, these institutions that engage

in such infractions are conscious of

what the law says. In this country,

people have served jail terms for

engaging in such infractions, yet we

find heads and boards of such

corporate institutions engaging in

same with alacrity.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

specifically look at the Volta River

Authority (VRA) Resettlement Trust

Fund and the need for investment

policy. If you check paragraph 7.1.3.,

it indicates that the auditors' review of the financial records of the VRA

Resettlement Trust Fund showed that

the Board, over the period, invested

some funds in various financial

institutions with the intention of

earning returns to complement the

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major sources of funding for the

organisation, yet they did so without

any documented policy on invest-

ment. In this country, we have had

people who served jail terms because

they had very clear intentions to

invest for the purposes of supporting

the institutions they headed. The

simple reason was that there was no

legal backing for such investments,

even though they had very clear

minds and good intentions to

generate some revenue for the

institutions. This cannot be different

from those decisions and actions

taken by those people for which

reason they were jailed by our courts.

Mr Speaker, my last point has to

do with the capacity of those who

manage some of these institutions.

Repeatedly, we have called for the

capacity of those who manage some

of those institutions to be upped, yet

this call seems to be falling on deaf

ears. It is about time the Committee

and Parliament took a position and

demanded that the capacity of those

heading such institutions, particularly

those managing such investments,

should be taken seriously. If we do

not do that, we would lament anytime such Reports are presented.

I humbly suggest that Parliament

should take a decision in approving

this Report, that the institutions

should be forced to ensure that they

build the capacity of those who

handle such very critical and

important portfolios within those

institutions.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words, I thank you for giving me the

opportunity to contribute to the

approval of the Report.

Majority Leader (Mr Osei

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu): Mr Speaker,

I crave your indulgence to make few

observations because I would have to

step out. First, I rise to add my voice

to those who have spoken ahead of

me to adopt the Report of the Public

Accounts Committee on the Report

of the Auditor-General on the Public

Accounts of Ghana.

Mr Speaker, this one relates to

public boards, corporations and other

statutory institutions for the period

ended 31st December, 2019. The

other day when you were not in the

Chamber, I raised a few matters, and

I intend to hammer on just one or two.

Mr Speaker, first, these Reports

from the Auditor-General relate to

public accounts, public boards,

corporations and other statutory

institutions. We realise that there are

2019 Auditor-General's Report on PBC & Other Statutory Insts.

issues relating to improprieties on the

part of all these institutions, public

boards and corporations. These

matters have come before us for

Parliament to take a position on them.

Incidentally, there are Hon Members

of Parliament serving on the boards

of these corporations and the Entity

Tender Committees of these

corporations.

The Auditor-General has told us

that there are cash irregularities, payroll irregularities, and procure-

ment irregularities, and Hon

Members serve on these Entity

Tender Committees. Have they ever

reported cases of malfeasance to us?

There is none that I know of.

Officially, we have not seen anything

from our representatives on these

boards. These matters have come to

us, and Parliament would have to take

a position on them. What does it

mean? How does it translate or affect

the work being undertaken by our

representatives on these corporations

and public institutions?

Mr Speaker, the time has come

for us, as a House, to take a decision on Hon Members of Parliament serving on public boards. There are Hon Members who serve on these boards and public institutions, and I believe that at any given time, if one

raises these matters, they may think that it is going against them. I think it is the institution that they represent, which is Parliament — How do we become part of the commission of these cases of malfeasance and improprieties and come to preside over the Reports and then take a decision on them? What should we do?

I believe the time has come for

us to really interrogate this matter, and take a firm decision as to whether it is right for Hon Members of Parliament to continue to serve on boards and corporations, especially on the Entity Tender Committees, and then we have these Reports come to us on cases of serious improprieties and malfeasance. What do we do? That is my first observation.

The second relates to an issue

that I raised in respect of the setting up of the Committee as prescribed by article 107 of the 1992 Constitution. As I reminded the House the other time, at the time the Hon Minister for National Security, Mr Albert Kan- Dapaah, was chairing the Public Accounts Committee, this matter came up strongly and the House decided to follow-up, to set up that Committee in the public interest. Mr

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Speaker, it was suggested to us that that Committee should be established on the lines of the Committee as provided for under article 278(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution.

Mr Speaker, while you were not

here the other day when I raised it, I

would indicated to Hon Members that

it was important that we had this

Committee established before this

Meeting adjourns sine die on the

Wednesday, 21st December, 2022.

Mr Speaker, I would go back to

that issue and invite you to have a

meeting with Leadership to

deliberate on the way forward on this

matter before we liaise with the Chief

Justice to have this Committee

established before we adjourn. This is

because we keep adopting these

Reports and we keep seeing cases of

malfeasance, yet, we are unable to

take a firm decision on them apart

from these Audit Implementation

Committees that exist in the various

Ministries, Departments and

Agencies (MDAs). We should be

bold on this.

Mr Speaker, as I said, I would

invite you to call for a meeting

involving Leadership for us to

interrogate this matter and take a firm

position on it, then liaise with the

Chief Justice so we know what to do

before we adjourn sine die on

Wednesday, 21st December, 2022.

Mr Speaker, having said so,

there are a few observations — Again I look at the bullet numbered 6.0 of

the Committee's Report. There, we are told that the total irregularities

stood at GH₵5.46 billion which included US$4.86 million dollars to

be paid at that time at the rate of

GH₵5.68 to US$1.

Mr Speaker, if those who are

obliged to pay have not paid yet and

have to pay now, they should be

made to pay the current rate of the

cedi equivalent of $1 which is,

officially, GH₵14.35. That is what they should be paying and not the

recommended rate, in 2019, of

GH₵5.68. And it applies to all other currencies: the Pound Sterling and

the Euro — one who was required to pay €299,202.40 —

Mr Speaker, then we are told that the total irregularities declined by GH₵8.9 billion from the figure in the year 2017 which was GH₵12 billion to only GH₵3 billion in the year 2018. That was very significant. However, it climbed up again by 81.8 per cent. What is the reason for that?

2019 Auditor-General's Report on PBC & Other Statutory Insts.

Maybe the Committee should have informed us on what really caused the dramatic climb back of the irregularities from GH₵3 billion to GH₵5.68 billion. That is a climb back by 81.8 per cent. What really occasioned that? Maybe the Committee should have furnished us with further and better particulars about that aside just noting that it climbed up by that margin. What really was the reason for it? Because if we have to propose cures, we must know what occasioned that but I think the information given us is a bit deficient with respect to the causes.

Mr Speaker, again, the

procurement irregularities is my prime concern. As I said, I am not too sure that any of our Members of Parliaments (MPs) who were serving on the Procurement Entity Tender Committees (ETCs) have made any report to us about instances or cases of malfeasance wherever they are and that really puts them in a very precarious position. So, let us take a firm decision on these matters because, last week, the Report from the Public Accounts Committee carried the same thing, that is, procurement irregularity where we have MPs serving and I think we should come clean on this, lest, the public may take us on as being complicit in these matters.

Mr Speaker, let us interrogate it and see whether or not, subsequent

to that we may not have to amend the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) which obligates depopulating

the populating of certain Entity Tender Committees by MPs.

Mr Speaker, I thank you very much.

Yes, Hon Minority Deputy Whip?
First Deputy Minority Whip
(Mr Ahmed Ibrahim): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for giving
me the opportunity to make these few comments on the Motion on the Floor.
Mr Speaker, I think it is high
time MPs took special interest in the
Reports of the Public Accounts Committee and followed keenly, matters relating to Public Accounts,
referrals to Public Accounts and accountability or oversight as a whole.
Mr Speaker, I have gone through
the Report and if we look at page 5, “An analysis of 2017, 2018 and 2019 Irregularities”, for Outstanding Debtors/Loans/Recoverable Charges, in the year 2017 alone, was GH₵11.8

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billion. In the year 2018, it reduced to GH₵1.8 billion. However, in the year 2019, it went up to GH₵4.8 billion.

Mr Speaker, if we take a look at

the Report, there are even contro- versies or arguments surrounding some of these loans which may affect the performance of some of those Public Institutions. A case in point is the controversy surrounding about GH₵26 million which the Bui Power Authority says is owed them by the the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) Limited while GRIDCo says they do not owe Bui Power Authority. So, who owes that money and where is that money?

Could it be that while the two

institutions are arguing about it and are unable to resolve the authenticity of the over GH₵26 million, that ends the controversy? No! I think we need to probe further.

Mr Speaker, a very disturbing

factor is point number 2: Cash Irregularities. In the year 2017, Cash Irregularities was only about GH₵149.2 million. However, in the year 2018, it increased from GH₵149 million to about GH₵1 billion.

Mr Speaker, however, in the year

2017, total irregularities was GH₵12

billion. In the year 2018, it reduced to only GH₵3 billion, but out of this amount, GH₵1 billion was for cash irregularities. Why is it that we are performing well in most of the irregularrities, but for cash irregular- rities, we are under performing, and that keeps increasing? I think proper attention must be given to that. However, in the year 2018, cash irregularities reduced from GH₵1 billion to GH₵215 million, and it is my prayer that going forward, the figure for cash irregularities should not increase again.

Mr Speaker, another disturbing

factor is contract irregularities. In the

year 2017, it was only GH₵16 million, but in 2018, it increased to

GH₵94 million: from 16 to 94! However, total irregularities reduced

in the year 2018, and contract

irregularities moved forward; cash

irregularities did same. However, in

2019, it reduced to GH₵87 million.

Mr Speaker, at page 6, the

opening paragraph reads:

“These irregularities represent trade debtors, staff debtors and

outstanding loans. Included in

this figure is an amount of

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GH₵3,643,789,172.39 loans granted by SSNIT to other 16

related institutions who have

defaulted in paying back the

facility…”

We would always blame Social

Security and National Insurance

Trust (SSNIT), meanwhile when

SSNIT gives loans to institutions,

they find it very difficult to pay back

and we know the difficulties SSNIT

is facing. We must do a follow-up to

make sure that those 16 institutions

pay back their outstanding debts to

SSNIT for SSNIT to be able to

function very well.

Mr Speaker, at page 9, item

numbered 6.1.6, Stores Irregularities,

states that, “These irregularities include non-documentation of store

items…”. How can this be— “non- documentation of store items”? Assuming this was one's private firm, would they procure items and

refuse to enter them into their stores,

or take documentation of them? How

can those items be tracked? One

disturbing issue is:

“… inadequate supervision, and non-reconciliation of fuel

purchases with fuel station

records. Included in the sum of

GH₵2,748,551 is an amount of GH₵1,060,805.25 for abandoned equipment procured by Cocoa

Research Institute between 2009

and 2012.”

Mr Speaker, this culture of the

State procuring assets for the State

and refusing to use them, and

allowing them to go without being

used, and we keep blaming people for

irregularities — Whether irregularities or not, it is stated that

those equipment are there and the

State has refused to use them. This is

not the beginning of those things. I

remember when we were not in this

House, in the year 2000, when I was

at the University of Ghana, we heard

of the State procuring some Pajero

vehicles which were all parked at the

Local Government Institute. We

allowed them to be there for over 20

years. I graduated from the

University of Ghana, did my private

job, entered into politics, came to

Parliament, and after 20 years, the

vehicles were sold. Did we do Cost-

Benefit Analysis? Did the State gain

or lose?

Mr Speaker, between the years

2009 and 2012, some equipment

were procured by the Cocoa Research

Institute to be used for the benefit of

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the cocoa farmers, yet they were

abandoned from 2009 to 2012. We

are in the year 2022, soon to enter the

year 2023. It is not as though those

equipment were not bought. They

were bought, so why are we not using

them? Why did we allow them to be

there from the years 2009 to 2012 up

to 2022? It has been over 10 years,

and technology is changing. If care is

not taken, those equipment may not

be of good use now. They were

bought for over GH₵1 million, and we say that the Ghana Cocoa Board

(COCOBOD) is indebted. Meanwhile,

they have been able to procure items

which they are not using.

Then very soon, charges would

be levelled against somebody. This

House has the Plea-Bargaining Law

(Criminal and Other Offences

(Procedure) (Amendment) Act ,2022

(Act 1079)). Even if there were

procurement irregularities, the State

could proceed to make use of that

GH₵1 million equipment and after everything is entered into, whether

there were irregularities or not, the

State would find out as to whether

somebody would be surcharged to

make some payments or refund some

moneys, but we cannot allow it to go

waste.

Mr Speaker, another item is that

an officer of the National Health

Insurance Authority (NHIA) who

received State moneys refused to pay

them into the Authority's account. The explanation given in this Report

is that he has ran away, so that ends

it. So, once somebody takes State

money and runs away — then the recommendation is that management

should follow up and issue a court

warrant and chase him.

Mr Speaker, time may not permit

me. I know there are other Hon

Members who may want to

contribute. The Committee did a very

good job and we must read the Report

carefully, and take special interest in

it.

Mr Speaker, from Friday to yesterday, the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development was in East Legon, and Dr Eric Oduro Osae took us through some of those irregularities and how they are captured. The Audit Service must go back into our laws. If there are deformities in the laws, they must be pointed out to us. All we hear is that there is about GH₵30 billion irregularities. One may wonder why we are going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) if we have

2019 Auditor-General's Report on PBC & Other Statutory Insts.

such an amount as irregularities. On both Sides, we do all those things, but if we go deep into those things, we would realise that it is not all of those things that can come to this — The State must take its supervisory role very seriously.

The Hon Majority Leader spoke

about Hon Members of Parliament (MPs) who are representing us on Entity Tender Committees. He is doubting as to whether we can go and represent the Entities in those Committees. Very soon, we shall be in Government, and I have already eyed which Board I am going to. On a very serious note, if he says Hon MPs should not be members on Entity Boards, we did it in the last eight years and went into opposition.

Mr Speaker, you set a very good

example when you were asked to be Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, and you refused it. You said that you wanted to be a Leader, and that Members of Parliament should not go into this. That is the Constitution we have and article 78 of the 1992 Constitution is clear — Being members on Entity Boards might not have too much problem on this — What the Committee is talking about is that management should take certain steps —

So, if the Hon Majority Leader is saying that Hon MPs should not

belong to Entity Boards, then we should just decouple article 78(1) of the 1992 Constitution and be free, but

one cannot be an Hon Minister and say he or she cannot be a member on an Entity Board. At least Hon MPs

are Hon Ministers of State, so if they can be Ministers of State, why can they not be members on Entity

Boards? We must take our accountability issues very seriously, because according to the Report, poor

supervision is the cause of all these.. If this were our private jobs, I do not think we would attend to its

supervision poorly.

Mr Speaker, with this comment,

I thank you for the opportunity and ask for the whole House to adopt the Report of the Committee and I

congratulate the Committee for a good job done. May God bless us all.

Yes, Hon Member
for New Juaben North?
Mr Kwasi Boateng Adjei (NPP
— New Juaben North): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the Motion that this Hon
House adopts the Report of the Public

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Accounts Committee on the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public

Accounts of Ghana (Public Boards, Corporation and Other Statutory Institutions) for the period ended 31st

December, 2019.

Mr Speaker, your Committee

looked at the Reports of the Boards in

other institutions and one thing that

ran throughout the entire Report is

the absence of effective control that

we expect that persons who are

placed in management positions

should exercise in these organisa-

tions. So, you would note that if you

look at page 5, you would see the

amounts that we are losing as a State

because we are not ensuring that we

do what is right in the management of

the public funds.

One other disturbing thing is that

even in our tertiary institutions, we

have an increasing phenomenon

where staff of these institutions who

are supported to go on study leave

with pay, get paid and at the end of

the day, when we expect that they

return to the system to support the

development of this country, through

the human resource management

aspects that they have control over,

they do not come back. As a result,

the State loses all those investments

that have been made in them and we

do not get the benefits that are

associated with the training that we

gave to such people.

For instance, page 25 of the

Report talks about the University of

Health and Allied Sciences where

payments of salaries were made to

some of the staff who were supposed

to come back but they resigned from

these organisations and, for that

matter, the State lost their services.

Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science and Technology lost an

amount of GH₵382,796.65 because of failure to serve bonds after study

leave. This is becoming an

increasingly disturbing phenomenon.

The Committee examined even the

technical universities and there were

also other issues observed, so the

Committee looked at how we could

strengthen the administrative regimes

such that there would be an effective

way of getting those who go on study

leave and do not return to these

institutions, to pay back those

moneys that the State would have lost

during their training.

What we have in the system —

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Hon Member, just
a minute. The First Deputy Speaker
will take the Chair.

12.35 p.m. —

Yes,
Hon Member, you may proceed.

So, currently when
people go on study leave, they are
made to execute a bond and then
when they abscond, we expect that
the State goes after those who
executed the bond in the name of
those officers. However, at the end of
the day, the State does not take
measures to ensure that these bonds
are redeemed to get those funds back
into the State's kitty. So, that has become a major concern for the
Public Accounts Committee and for
that matter, the country.
Again, the system allows for
people to enjoy double salaries because when people go on either secondment or they move, rather than
getting the system to terminate those arrangements under which they worked, we do not. So, some of the
staff are able to take double salaries all to the detriment of the State. I
believe that we need to strengthen the control measures and make sure that those who have been placed in
management positions, discharge their responsibilities to those organisations and for that matter, to
the State. If we are able to do that, then when we take a look at these Reports, we will be able to reduce the
infractions, the embezzlement and other things that are related to these public accounts.
Mr Speaker, with these few
words, I would like to thank you for
the opportunity.

Yes,
Hon Deputy Majority Leader, the Rt Hon Speaker said he has granted you leave to make your contribution.
Deputy Majority Leader (Mr
Alexander K. Afenyo-Markin): Mr
Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity to add my voice to the issue at stake. First, let me commend
the Committee for the good job done.
Mr Speaker, often times, when
these anomalies are brought to our attention, we are quick, as a political class, to politicise the issue, and I
believe that is causing the country so

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much. The time has come for us to strengthen our oversight function by

looking at the system, the structures in place, and how we can deal with the loopholes. Technical people, civil

servants and public servants get away with infractions because, at the end of the day, “the political class” would be protecting them. Business men may get involved in certain activities and because they know the political class

would be fighting, they are home and dry.

Mr Speaker, the time has come

for us to delve deeper and interrogate

the issues that affect public finance. It

is a real challenge and if we continue

to accuse each other, they would find

a safe-haven and get away with such

rots. Merely because we are

politically superintending does not

mean that we take ultimate

responsibility and, at the same time,

take responsibility for the rot down

there.

Mr Speaker, I urge my Hon

Colleagues that we should say never

again to the politicisation of the

Auditor-General's Report. We should say never again and deal with

the specific issues.

If, at the Committee level, we are

dealing with, say, 2009 or 2010

Report, and the Hon Members in the

New Patriotic Party (NPP) think that

that was the time they were in office

and, therefore, would protect and

limit the questions on it, and if it is

2017 or 2018, and the Hon Members

in the National Democratic Congress

(NDC) on the Committee think that

this is the time to have a go at the

Government of the day, at the end of

the day, the problem would remain.

Mr Speaker, therefore, let us do

away with the NDC/NPP

partisanship and look at the country.

I am not sure that all of us are happy

with what is happening to our

economy today, but we, as a political

class, have ourselves to blame. This

is because we are quick in pointing

fingers at the NDC and the NPP,

forgetting the real rot down there. If

we are in agreement that the time has

come for us to look at the entire

system of governance, then we

should be proactive and call a spade a

spade right from today. I am sure that

should we do this, the country would

benefit and posterity would be kind to

us.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for the

opportunity.

Question put and Motion agreed

to.

Resolved accordingly.

Mr Annoh-Dompreh — rose —

Yes,
Hon Majority Chief Whip?

Mr Speaker,
I think we are ready to start with the
debate now, and hence, we can take
item numbered 7. It is not numbered
on the Order Paper though, but the
item below it is numbered 8, so I
guess the one above it is 7. So, on our
Side, we would start with Dr Nana
Ayew Afriye. We have duly
submitted the list as discussed.

I
have two lists with different numbers:
one has six and the other has eight
debaters. The Majority have
submitted a list of six; the Minority
has submitted a list of eight.
Very well, we will proceed. We
will start with Dr Nana Ayew Afriye,
the Hon Member for Effiduase/
Asokore.

Mr Speaker, I
thank you for the opportunity as I
take my turn to debate the principles
with regard to the health sector
presentation in the 2023 Budget
Statement. Mr Speaker, the Budget
Statement touched on what we say
are the building blocks of health
systems as recommended by the
World Health Organisation (WHO).
Every Budget, as far as the health
sector is concerned, has to be on the
foundation of six pillars. It has to speak

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

to issues that border on leadership

and governance, health sector

finance, the health workforce,

infrastructure, essential medicines,

and health information management.

The Budget Statement, as it were,

primarily touched on these building

blocks, and that, in my view, shows

that it is a case in the right direction,

and it is a Budget that actually

influences the lives of the people.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

acknowledge that, regarding gover-

nance and leadership, we are in safe

hands as far as the various agencies

are concerned and provided with

leadership from the Ministry of

Health. All the various agencies have

performed very well in the midst of

difficulty. They have used

innovations to walk ourselves out

through difficulty, and they have

made growth and enhanced satis-

faction because of the performance

indicators from these respective

agencies. Therefore, I say that the

Budget Statement touched base with

governance and leadership with

regard to health systems, and we are

doing good.

Mr Speaker, with regard to

health finance, Ghana is no

exception. The global economic

crisis has had its impact on our local

economy, and for that matter, it

would have its effect on healthcare

financing. There is a correlation

between the wellbeing of the people

and health financing. Indeed, I would

admit that when there is

impoverished allocation of resources

in the health sector, then obviously,

there would be some challenges with

regard to the health and wellbeing of

the people. As I have admitted to the

fact that there would be challenges

with this, so would I say that the

various agencies are walking us

through innovations, and we are

making progress.

Mr Speaker, if we talk about

health finance, the National Health

Insurance Authority (NHIA), in the

midst of difficulty, using the Mobile

Membership Renewal system, has

improved renewal of subscription by

Ghanaians and, overall, the

subscription has increased to almost

over 15 million, and that is about half

of the population of the country. This

is commendable.

Mr Speaker, I know that the

NHIA is going to be in extreme

difficulty because as much as the

economy is hit hard, so would they

also be hit hard. Providers would

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

have higher expectations; prices are

on the high; no consumables in the

health sector are manufactured in this

country - all of them are imported. There is difficulty ahead with regard

to healthcare financing. The

difficulty is at the doorstep of the

NHIA. However, with the

satisfaction as I speak now, I would

say that they are also, in the midst of

the difficulty, trying to add on a scope

of healthcare services: family

planning services, cancer, dialysis,

among others. There is supposed to

be a national discourse on how all

these things are financed. It is a

difficult one, but I have a strong

belief that as much as they are

delivering, if we walk that path, and

releases are given to them spot on, we

would be in the right direction.

Mr Speaker, times are hard, so I

would say it as it is. There is hope in

the Budget Statement. There is hope

because the Government is putting

blocks on the way that when releases

follow alongside, then the Ghanaian

and the provider should be smiling.

Mr Speaker, with regard to health

infrastructure, this Government has

beaten its own record between 2000

and 2008, and it is setting a new one

with regard to the provision of

primary healthcare services. The

Government is touching base in

almost every Region because people

matter and every Region matters. In

the Western Region, one District

Hospital and five other clinics are

near completion: Akontombra, Bogoso,

Elubo, Nsuaem, Mpohor and others.

These are primary healthcare projects

at the grassroot level, and that, when

completed, would enhance access

and touch base with the heart of the

ordinary Ghanaian wherever they are.

That is the Western Region.

In the Central Region, the Cape

Coast Teaching Hospital is seeing

expansion and the Accident and

Emergency Centre has also seen huge

investments which would help the

Central Region.

Mr Speaker, in the Eastern

Region — maternally, I am from the Ashanti Region and paternally, I am

from Akuapem — There has been lots of investment at the Tetteh

Quashie Memorial Hospital as we

speak and the people of the Eastern

Region are happy that they also got

their fair share of the allocation as far

as the health sector is concerned. The

people of Atibie, Kibi, Aburi,

Koforidua et cetera are happy.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, in the Greater Accra Region that hosts all of us, the Accra Regional Hospital is also seeing an uplift. With the feasibility studies on course and if they are successful, the Phase II of the expansion work on the hospital would hopefully see the light of day.

Mr Speaker, I would now

dovetail into Agenda 111. This project, when successful, would improve on access to healthcare and also provide a lot of employment. We do not have to be pessimistic; we need to be optimistic. Ambitious as the project is, it is a legacy for the country because of the COVID-19; a force majeure, an external force that devastated the health system. Regardless of what happened during COVID-19, a legacy to be left in the country in future is all these hospitals. Frankly, I would not say that all the 111 district hospitals, seven regional hospitals, and two psychiatric hospitals could be finished in 2024. It does not make sense. However, it makes sense to say that 89 of these hospitals have been started. Even if 30 of them are completed in two years, it is a legacy. If the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government inherits itself as it would, then, it would see to it that one day, all these districts would have all of the hospitals. If the Government goes to any other regime, it remains a legacy.

The Accra Regional Hospital was started under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Admini- stration, and Phase II is being enhanced under the NPP Admini- stration. This is continuity as far as the health sector is concerned. Therefore, let us not politicise Agenda 111 as if its completion or the inability to execute it inures to the benefit of either the NPP or NDC Administsration. It is a legacy and no regime could finish this within four (4) years; it would not make sense. However, what is important is that we start it and have the will that we can complete it. We should also have the feeling that we are serving Ghanaians and there is a legacy we are providing for them — [Interruption] —because we are doing politics with it.

Mr Speaker, 89 of these hospitals

have been started. Some of them had land acquisition issues, others had topographical issues while others are being redesigned. Therefore, if we are done with 20, 30 or 40 of these hospitals under Agenda 111 in four (4) years, it is better than none and it should not be politicised. It is in progress.

Mr Speaker, with regard to

health workforce, I like the

innovation in the system where we

are looking at producing some more

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Ghanaians to go elsewhere as brand

ambassadors to provide healthcare,

make some money, increase foreign

remittances to the country, just like

the Philippines and the other

countries have done; they have sold

themselves.

In West Africa, many parents

who could afford it bring their

children to Ghana to educate them in

the health training institutions.

Therefore, if we could produce and

export, then that is good. There is

hope in the Budget Statement where

it talked about signing a contract with

the British Government so Ghanaians

could be able to go there. That is good

because years ago, some of us were

in this business and it was helping

families. We stopped because there

was a provision between Department

for International Development

(DFID) and the Government that they

do not have to export nor even

advertise. If this barrier is broken, it

would create a lot of health agencies

that would seek to export, sure our

name, bring money to families and

add knowledge to Ghanaians to

acquire and to bring it back home.

This is extremely laudable.

Therefore, the Government of H. E.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has

to be praised as such.

Mr Speaker, with regard to

health service delivery, the number of

deaths in this country from non-

communicable diseases is a huge

burden. Even though, we are worried

about COVID-19, we have made

progress with HIV. As I speak, the

prevalence rate of HIV in 2016 was

two per cent and has reduced to about

1.6 per cent and it is expected that in

2025, it would be 1.5 per cent. It is

progress. However, inasmuch as we

worry about HIV and have done well

when it comes to COVID-19, as we

speak now, the positivity rate of

COVID-19 is 6.8 per cent, active

cases are 23 and free tests that have

been invested in by the Government

is about three million.

This is what the President said:

“We can rebuild the economy...” in any case, we are struggling with the

economy because of external factors

and that is true, but the President said

“We can rebuild the economy but we cannot get lives lost back” and because we cannot have lives lost

back, it is good as we speak, to say

that with COVID-19, we invested

more than any other country and

there has not been any country that

has been able to do more than

400,000 free tests in the sub-region. I

have researched and there is not

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

country like that in the sub-region but

Ghana has done close to 3 million

Mr Speaker, the tests were free.

There was also free water and free

healthcare. However, we are paying

for it. There is now high debt burden

on us, external shocks and we are

struggling. It is not easy for me nor

my constituents and it is also not easy

for anyone but I believe that H. E.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

and the NPP Government that they

have the wherewithal and they have

all it takes to walk us through, if only

we are sincere to Ghanaians that

times are hard. Indeed, times are

hard.

Hon
Member, you have one minute more.

Mr Speaker, the disease burden now is more shifted from the infections to non-commu- nicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes et cetera. So this Budget Statement says that the Ghana Health Service is moving in that direction to provide hope in terms of non- communicable diseases and also geriatric care, that is for the aging people. This is because life expectancy appears to have increased
and so they would like to provide good healthcare for the aged. Therefore, veterans and retirees would have good healthcare. This is a source of hope for Ghanaians. I am happy with the Budget Statement.

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

Mr Speaker, I rise to add my voice to the debate on the Budget Statement. I would be looking at the works and housing and water resources and sanitation sector. Glancing through this Budget Statement, I must admit that this is the first time in the history of this country that a Budget Statement has been presented to us and we cannot see the head nor the tail of the Budget when it comes to infrastructure.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, the 2022 Budget

Statement which was presented last

year, 2021, gave us some hope as

Ghanaians that we would see some

developments in the areas of housing,

works and water resources. However,

looking at the implementation of the

2022 Budget Statement and

comparing it to the 2023 Budget

Statement, I have lost hope in the

Budget Statement. I do not know

whether it would take our prayers to

resuscitate this economy and get

development on track or we would

have to fold our hands and give up.

Mr Speaker, paragraph 679 of

the 2023 Budget Statement has to do

with the STRABAG Water Project

which was started in 2013. The Phase

III of the Project was supposed to be

completed way back. The Hon

Minister for Finance came to the

House and stated in paragraph 679 of

the 2023 Budget Statement and with

your permission, I beg to quote.

“Mr Speaker, the Five Districts Water Supply Scheme in the

Volta Region (Phase III), also

known as the STRABAG Water

Project is 95 per cent complete.

The Project is a multi-district

water supply system designed to

serve five Districts in the Volta

Region of Ghana namely: Adaklu

Anyigbe; Agotime-Ziope; Central

Tongu; Ho West and North

Tongu Districts. When fully

completed, 424 communities

with a population of over

234,000 will benefit from the

project.”

Mr Speaker, then I looked at the

2022 Budget Statement with the

statement copied and pasted but with

different figures. So, I asked myself

whether we are in this country. With

your permission, I beg to quote

paragraph 846 of the 2022 Budget

Statement, which stated that:

“The scope of the Five Districts Water Supply Project Phase III

includes the completion of the

distribution networks in areas

already connected to transmit-

ssion mains of the water treatment

plants constructed under Phases

I and II. The project will cover

183 communities...”

Mr Speaker, Phases I and II of

the Project were done from the year

2013 to date. The 2022 Budget State-

ment states that the Project would

cover 183, not 424 communities, as

stated in the 2023 Budget Statement.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, therefore, between

the 2022 and 2023 Budget State-

ments, I ask myself which one I

should rely on. There is confusion in

the Budget Statements. The Hon

Minister for Finance stated in the

2022 Budget Statement that the

Project would cover 183 communities

and about 222,075 people from

Adaklu, Agortime/Ziope, Central

Tongu, Ho West and North Tongu

Districts are expected to benefit from

it. A Value for Money analysis was

undertaken. However, a new Budget

Statement has been presented to the

House this year and the figures have

changed. So, which Budget Statement

should we accept: the 2022 or the

2023 Budget Statement?

Mr Speaker, that is not the only

confusion I have seen. Even when the

Hon Minister for Finance copies and

pastes statements, he should make

sure that he does so correctly. We

know that parts of the named districts

are in my constituency but I have not

seen any work in my constituency.

The STRABAG Water Project has

not yet started in my constituency.

However, the 2023 Budget Statement

has stated that it would be completed

in 2023, whereas the 2022 Budget

Statement also stated that it would be

competed in 2022. The information

was just copied and pasted.

Mr Speaker, paragraph 680 of

the 2023 Budget Statement also talks

about another project called Aqua

Africa Water Project. We approved

the Project in this House in 2017

expecting that by now, it would be

competed. However, as we speak

today, the Aqua Africa Water Project

has not started. Meanwhile, the same

paragraph 680 of the 2023 Budget

Statement states that:

“Mr Speaker, the Rural Communities and Small Towns

Water Supply Project, also

known as the Aqua Africa Water

Project is on-going. The project

will undertake the installation of

150 Nano filtration plants and

construction of 12 small town

water systems. Installation of

some of the Nano-filtration

plants are in progress and the

construction of small towns

water systems will commence in

2023.”

Mr Speaker, in the 2023 Budget Statement, the Project is ongoing, but where is it ongoing? This is the Budget Statement that has been presented to the good people of Ghana. The funding of the Project was approved since 2017, but we still crawl and say that it would be

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

completed in 2023. So, I ask myself, who we are deceiving and why we keep repeating things that we know we could not do? Where is the money that the House approved for the Aqua Africa Water Project? I think that the Committee on Works and Housing should take this up seriously and find out where the money has gone. I would leave the water sector because there are so many discrepancies in that sector.

Mr Speaker, I would now move

on to the sanitation sector. With your permission, I beg to quote paragraph 684 of the 2023 Budget Statement which states that:

“Mr Speaker, the Ministry, under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, is constructing an Engineered Sanitary Landfill and Materials Recovery Facility in the Ga West Municipality. Detailed Engineering Design and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment is ongoing. In addition, fencing of land for the construction of a Transfer Station at the Ga East Municipality is ongoing, and a contractor selected to undertake the capping of the dumpsite at Abokobi (Abloradjei).”

Mr Speaker, I beg that we go

back to paragraph 848 of the 2022

Budget Statement and with your

permission, I beg to quote. It stated

that:

“Under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Develop-

ment (GARID) Project, the

Ministry is constructing an

engineered sanitary landfill and a

material recovery facility in the

Ga West Municipality. In

addition, a waste transfer station

will be constructed at the Ghana

Atomic Energy Commission and

a dumpsite at Abokobi

(Abloradjei) will be capped. A

fence will be constructed along

the Odaw.”

Mr Speaker, this has been lifted word for word. These words could be found in the 2022 Budget Statement,

yet in the 2023 Budget Statement, the same words have been captured. So, I ask myself, whom are we deceiving?

If they knew that it could not be done in 2022, they should have just told Ghanaians that it could not be done.

The Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project is a facility from the World

Bank, and the House approved it. We

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

cannot account for it in 2022, yet they have repeated it word for word in the

2023 Budget Statement. Oh my God! Where are we going? So, when I said that I have lost hope — in fact, I could continue even to Ministry of Water Resources, Works, and Housing. When it comes to drainage and

housing, it is the same mess up, and I am so confused about whether to believe in ourselves as Ghanaians or

to believe that we, the political elites, are deceiving the people.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku
Agyemang-Manu.
Minister for Health (Mr
Kwaku Agyemang-Manu) (MP):
Mr Speaker, I thank you.
Mr Speaker, today, I would
concentrate on the health sector, and I would politely request all my Hon Colleagues and urge them to approve
the Budget Statement that was presented to us by the Hon Minister for Finance, simply because of what
is entailed in the health sector.
Mr Speaker, I think that this Budget Statement is very good for our health, and as you know, health is
life. After COVID-19, we saw what we were exposed to, so the
Government made conscious efforts to strengthen the health sector and build in new things that would enable
us to provide and deliver equitable quality health service across the country. What is contained in this
Budget Statement actually supports the Government's resolve that we would work hard to ensure that we
can meet any future endemic or pandemic.
Mr Speaker, the Budget
Statement aligns with our resolve to
continue with all the infrastructural
projects that were started before and
even during COVID-19, and some
monetary provisions have actually
been made for this.
Mr Speaker, we are building
infrastructure across the country.
Aside from Agenda 111, all the
projects that were started during the
COVID-19 pandemic are nearing
completion. I would not like to
mention a lot of them; however, we
are just about completing Fomena
District Hospital and that of
Kumawu. We are working so hard
and advancing with the 44-years old
Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
Maternity Block. As I speak,
contractors have moved to the site to

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

refurbish the old maternity block at

the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. We

are also working so hard to begin

work on the surgical block at the Kole

Bu Teaching Hospital. We now have

contractors seriously on-site to

resurrect Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

and bring it back to its former glory

by putting in a Nephrology Centre to

help us with health care delivery.

Mr Speaker, we are all aware

that our case burdens are moving

away from infectious to noncommu-

nicable diseases, and we are working

hard to meet that challenge. We are

trying to set up cancer centres where

we would treat various kinds of

cancers. As part of our universal

health coverage, we are looking at

strategic partnerships and we are

collaborating with some pharma-

ceutical companies to enable us to put

on our health insurance essential

medicines list some very expensive

medicines to treat some cancers such

that we could have access to

medicines for our patients.

Mr Speaker, that notwith-

standing, let me mention the fact that

Ghana has been assessed as one of the

two countries that got it right in the

fight against COVID-19: Ghana and

South Korea. As we speak now, our

COVID-19 case count of active cases

is just around 23. Around 26th

November last week, we had even 21

cases. However, that does not mean

that COVID-19 is away. We still

have our vaccines; we still mount our

vaccination campaigns, and we are

doing the best that we can to ensure

that we do not get the type of

lockdowns and waves that caused a

lot of misery to our economy and the

outcomes that we are facing today.

Mr Speaker, we are using

technology and innovation to do

health care. As I speak, Ghana has the

largest drone delivery service for

delivering medicines and vaccines

across the globe. We have already set

up four centres, we have added two

more, and we are covering close to

about 90 per cent coverage for the

land mass of Ghana, such that in any

emergency, we could fly and

distribute vaccines and emergency

medicines.

Mr Speaker, the Global Alliance

for Vaccines and Immunisation

(GAVI) has written to me, and has

asked me to inform the President and

the country how happy they are with

their routine immunisation performance.

In the midst of COVID-19, and

immediately after that, Ghana has

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

recorded 98 per cent for immune-

sation. This means that almost all our

children have gotten vaccines to

combat routine diseases that afflict

children, which are diseases that

cannot affect children when they are

immunised.

Mr Speaker, apart from these,

there are several other things that the

Budget Statement would help us do. I

have mentioned the completion of

our hospitals — there are several of them I cannot count. Soon, we would

even commission some at Akontombra,

Aburi, Mampong, and Zibilla

including several others that I cannot

mention. However, that aside, we are

also implementing our policies that

we have done, and these are going to

be done with certain resources that

we think the Budget Statement would

help us fund what we are supposed to

do.

Mr Speaker, we did the Republic

of Ghana Policy on Antimicrobial

Use and Resistance (1st Edition

2017) some time back. Due to

funding challenges, we have not been

very aggressive with implementing

the policy. Now, in 2022 going to

2023, we would mount a very serious

campaign to do the advocacy that we

need to do for the Ghana Policy on

Antimicrobial Use and Resistance

implementation.

Mr Speaker, we completed Food

Safety Policy this year and we have

planned ahead to do massive

campaigns to try to also implement

the Food Safety Policy.

Mr Speaker, for Human

Resources (HR), we have trained and

would continue to train adequate

numbers to support us. The challenge

is how we could distribute these

young people we have trained to all

parts of the country. We are

developing a policy, and we believe

that this Budget Statement would

help us support that policy to ensure

that we can send people away from

the big cities where everybody wants

to be.

Mr Speaker, as you are aware,

we have started sending our nurses

outside the country on a bilateral

basis. The agreement we signed with

Barbados has seen the dispatch of the

second cohort of nurses to Barbados.

Why would they not come for more?

Now, in Barbados, what we hear is

that patients are requesting Ghanaian

nurses to be by their bedside, and I

think that, that is a plus for us. We are

engaging with the Government of the

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

United Kingdom, and we are just

about to sign a memorandum of

agreement after Cabinet approval, to

begin to send nurses, even the

certificate nurses, to go for training

and work there and come back home

after three years. Out of these nurses' programme, Ghana is going to

benefit from some little amount of

money that the UK Government

would pass on. For every single nurse

that goes away, when we finish the

agreement, it is likely we would get

over £1,000 to come back to support

our health system and strengthen it.

Mr Speaker, we are doing a lot of

things, and by virtue of our

collaboration with GAVI, the Global

Vaccine Alliance People, God

willing, we may introduce the

vaccine for malaria and that may also

help us stop the type of challenge we

have with malaria case burdens

across our country. Already, fatalities

with malaria infections are going

down and we believe that with the

vaccines, we would have a lot more

resilience and immunity against

malaria in our children. I have

mentioned drones, but we are now

talking about essential medicines in

our facilities.

Mr Speaker, the collaboration that I was talking about; we have global pharmaceutical companies that are supporting us to provide very expensive medicines a bit cheaply in our country and our people have started benefiting from this. Again, Mr Speaker, you are aware that we would soon move into the Second Consideration Stage of the Bill that seeks to establish our vaccine institute that is going to help us to manufacture and distribute vaccines in our country. In that respect, we already have the World Health Organisation's (WHO) maturity level three for our Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) laboratories, and we are working very hard to achieve maturity level four to enable us pass the vaccines that we would produce in the country.

There is a lot more that I may

need to actually continue to expand on, but the bottom line is that this Budget is a very good one for the Ministry of Health and the general economy. It is true that the COVID- 19 pandemic impacted on us so negatively, but one good thing that we got from the COVID-19 pandemic was the investments that were put into health. Without the COVID-19 pandemic, we may not have seen that investment.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, when the COVID-

19 pandemic hit us on 12th March,

2020, there were only two

laboratories that could test for

COVID-19 on the Polymerase Chain

Reaction (PCR) System. As I speak,

we have about 56 of such centres in

our country so that we do not carry

samples across the country and then

have to queue at the Noguchi

Memorial Institute for Medical

Research (NMIMR). Now, close to

56 places can run the PCR test for

COVID-19 and other infectious

diseases. That is a plus on the part of

the Government, and that is one good

thing the COVID-19 funds were

actually used for.

However, that is not the only

thing; apart from this benefit from

COVID-19, it looks like we have

actually strengthened the system to

the extent that we never had a single

refrigerator that could store ultra-cold

temperature vaccines, but today, we

have installed a lot, and can actually

stock close to three million of such

vaccines in our stocks at Korle Bu

and some of the regional capitals.

Mr Speaker, we have strengthened

our cold-chain equipment and a lot of

facilities. We have built a lot of

infectious disease centres that are

going to be done, and soon, we would

bring to Parliament a bill that would

seek to actually establish a Centre for

Disease Control (CDC) in Ghana that

would get us ready for any epidemic

that would come instead of waiting

for the diseases to hit us before we

begin to prepare. But we would need

more funds, and I believe that

Parliament would support us to go in

that direction.

I would like to end here and

thank the Rt Hon Speaker and Hon

Colleagues so much for allowing us

to create a budget line item to support

our drone delivery services that we

have introduced, which is also giving

us a good big mark in our healthcare

delivery. I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Andrew Dari Chiwitey

(NDC — Sawla/Tuna/Kalba): Mr

Speaker, thank you for allowing me

to speak to the Motion that this

honourable House approves the

Budget Statement and Economic

Policy of Government for the year

ending 31st December, 2023. While

thanking you for the opportunity, I

would like to use this time to make

the Government of President Akufo

Addo and Dr Mahamadu Bawumia

aware that Ghanaians are indeed

struggling to survive, not only

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

financially, but regarding the areas

that I am going to speak to: sanitation

and water resources and housing.

It is shocking that the

Government continues to talk plenty

without acting. When my senior Hon

Colleague was debating, he regretted

so much that the 2021 and 2022

Budgets have been repeated in 2023.

It is all because the Government

continues to talk plenty without

acting.

Mr Speaker, I would like to refer

you to paragraph 674 of the 2023

Budget; it talks about the

Government continuing to monitor

the turbidity of water for Ghanaians,

but the Government failed to tell

Ghanaians that they have failed in

fighting galamsey in order for

Ghanaians to have clean water to

drink. On 28th March, 2014, the

former President, John Dramani

Mahama built and commissioned a

water system in Kyebi for the good

people of Kyebi to have clean water.

What has President Akufo-Addo and

Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia

done to the people of Kyebi? As we

speak, they have failed to indicate the

turbidity level of the Birim water in

Kyebi, which has caused the Ghana

Water Company Limited (GWCL) to

close down the water system. For

some time now, President Akufo-

Addo's hometown people do not have clean water to drink because the

turbidity level of the Birim water is

over 3,000, and so the water system

has been shut down. In the 2022

Budget, the Government stated

clearly the levels of turbidity in our

water in Ghana, but because they

have failed woefully, they have

refused to state the levels as captured

in the 2023 Budget.

It is a pity that we have a

Government that speaks so much. I

still remember vividly when the Vice

President in 2016 stated that two

years into the Akufo-Addo

Government, there would not be a

single community in Ghana that has a

water or toilet problem. We should

wake Dr Bawumia up, if he is asleep,

and make him aware that he is seven

years old in Government, but we still

have so many villages without water

and toilets.

Mr Henry Quartey — rose —

Hon
Member, hold on.
Yes Hon Quartey?

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague on the other Side is making a good Statement, but he is quoting Dr Bawumia to have said something. This is a House of records, so I shall be grateful if he could produce such here, other than that, it should be expunged.

Hon
Member, which document did you quote from?

Mr Speaker, what
Dr Bawumia said is public knowledge and President Akufo- Addo also stated clearly —

Are
you quoting him or a newspaper publication? What is your source?

Mr Speaker, I am
not holding a document, but I am paraphrasing what Dr Bawumia said while he was campaigning, and if you may —

Hon
Member, kindly move away from personalising it, whatever the statement is, please.

Mr Speaker,
thank you. People do not want us to talk about Dr Bawumia, but for my six years in Parliament, in the past
years, Dr Bawumia had always sat here, and had smiled and nodded at the Minister for Finance while he presented the Budget Statement. [Laughter]. However, because this year's Budget Statement had been so empty, he could not sit in front here to cheer up the Minister for Finance —

Hon
Member for Ayawaso Central, my
advice is that you allow him. That is
all part of his contribution.
Go on, Hon Member.

Mr Speaker, I
have a lot to say, and I am saying
what I have to say. The 2023 Budget
has not given us hope regarding how
Ghanaians would be served with
clean water to drink.
In 2022, we expected a number
of water systems to be constructed,
and as I speak with you, I filed a
Question to the Ministry for
Sanitation and Water Resources
requesting for the total number of
boreholes and water systems built and their locations, but the Ministry
failed to tell us where they sank
boreholes and built water systems.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

This is a failed Government, and we

must say it to them that they have

failed Ghanaians.

Mr Speaker, we are almost in

2023 — I represent the people of Sawla/Tuna/Kalba; I have not

witnessed a single borehole sunk by

the Assembly or the Government. I

would continue to talk about Dr

Mahamudu Bawumia because he

came to my constituency just two

months ago, and struggled to

inaugurate a water system

constructed by a private person. — [Interruption]—Why would I not talk about Dr Bawumia when he is the

leader of the Economic Management

Team? He chaired the production of

this Budget Statement and so, when

we are speaking to it, we should be

allowed to talk about the leader of the

Economic Management Team.

Mr Speaker, it seems Hon

Members on the other Side do not

want to hear us talk about President

Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia.

Meanwhile, they are the ones who are

governing the nation now — [Interruption]— [An Hon Member: Speak to the Budget] What does the

Hon Member mean by “Budget”? Mr Speaker, all these information are

captured in the Budget Statement if

the Hon Member does not know. The

Budget Statement was supposed to

tell us the number of water systems

that would be built in Ghana, and

indicate the levels of water turbidity.

They failed to do it and so, if I am

speaking to this, I should not be

directed to speak to the Budget; I am

speaking to it, if the Hon Member

cares to know.

Mr Speaker, it is shocking that

this Budget Statement has failed to

talk about the Saglemi Housing

Project. It has failed to clearly tell

Ghanaians how Government is going

to lead us into 2023 and 2024, and

how they will deal with the problems

of the housing sector. The previous

Government built 1,506 housing units.

When this Government came in 2017,

they clearly stated that they would

continue with the project. Mr

Speaker, kindly let me refer you to

the 2022 Budget Statement and

Economic Policy where the

Government clearly stated in

paragraph 861 - Mr Speaker, if you may permit me:

“The Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, is

considering available options for

the completion of the Saglemi

Affordable Housing Project. The

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Ministry envisages that work

would resume on the 1,502

housing units under Phase I of

the Project.”

In fact, they are supposed to be

1,506, not 1,502.

Mr Speaker, this was contained

in the 2022 Budget Statement. The

2023 Budget Statement is silent about

it just because this Government has

decided to sell out the housing

project. Two weeks ago, the

Committee met the sector Minister,

and this document was provided and

he clearly indicated that Government

is considering selling out the housing

project. If President Akufo-Addo and

Dr Bawumia could not complete the

Saglemi Housing Project for

Ghanaians to occupy, they have no

moral right to sell out that project. I

would like to use this opportunity to

clearly send a message to President

Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia that

the Saglemi Housing Project is not

for sale, and they must not sell it.

Mr Speaker, I thought this

Budget Statement would have

indicated the way forward as we go

into 2023 stating how the

Government would subsidise

building materials for the people of

Ghana to own their own houses. At

the beginning of this year, a bag of

cement cost between GH₵37 and GH₵40. As we speak today, a bag of cement is GH₵95; that is even the cost in Accra. When one travels up

north or elsewhere, a bag of cement

goes for GH₵110 and GH₵120. The Budget Statement has failed to

indicate how these problems would

be solved.

Mr Speaker, at the beginning of

this year, a single plywood cost

GH₵25. As we speak, a single plywood is sold at GH₵65. As of the beginning of this year, we had a tonne

of iron rod selling at GH₵3,300. Today, one tonne of iron rod is

GH₵9,000. President Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia do not see anything

wrong with this - only for them to go ahead and tell us that they want to sell

the Saglemi Housing Project when

they are not able to come up with

policies that would reduce the prices

of these building materials.

Mr Speaker, could we also

advise the Ministry for Works and

Housing to also start selling sand,

iron rod, roofing sheets, and roofing

nails at the Ministry like the Ministry

of Food and Agriculture is doing?

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Hon
Member, kindly wind up; you have
exceeded your time.

Mr Speaker, let
me conclude by thanking you, and
also asking the Hon Minister for
Works and Housing that if it is the
policy of the Government that
Ministries should start doing
business, then the Works and
Housing Ministry should also start
selling sand, iron rods —

Mr
Sylvester Tetteh.

Mr
Speaker, I thank you for the
opportunity to call on the House to
approve the Government's Budget Statement and Economic Policy for
the year ending 31st December, 2023.
Indeed, the Budget Statement
has provided a policy direction as to
how Ghana, as any other country,
would recover. This is a policy
statement that would help us in our
recovery journey to bring our
economy back to life as the President
indicated, that, indeed, we cannot
bring back lives, but we can bring
back an ailing or dead economy.
Mr Speaker, if one looks at
paragraph 19 of the Budget
Statement, there are seven pointers or
the premise on which this Budget
Statement is based on. I would be
speaking on the communication sub-
sector of the economy, and it is
refreshing to state that all the sectors
of this economy and the recovery
process are based on communication
and digitalisation - that we would have to take seriously. Indeed, the
Ministry of Communications and
Digitalisation has done remarkably
well in placing a firm foundation for
our recovery process.
From revenue mobilisation to
expenditure control, and of course, to
boost productivity and ensure that
this economy grows, all is based on
digitalisation and communication.
Over the last year, 2022, the Ministry
of Communications and Digitali-
sation had undertaken a number of
interventions to ensure that this
economy is properly placed for the
development of our country.
Mr Speaker, in the year 2022, the
Ministry, through the Ghana
Investment Fund for Electronic
Communication (GIFEC), constructed
1,030 mobile telephony sites that
have benefited a total of 1,353

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

communities. In the 2023 Budget

Statement and Economic Policy, the

Ministry would go ahead to ensure

that about 4,000 communities benefit

from the construction of 700 cell sites

to ensure that rural telephony and

digital inclusion is enhanced in 2023.

Mr Speaker, if one looks at the

contribution of the communication

sub-sector to this economy, one of the

key things that the Ministry has done

and would continue to do as a way of

policy is to ensure that the girl-child

is not left behind the Information

Communication Technology (ICT)

inclusion. That is why the ICT project

is targeted at training 3,000 young

girls in basic schools in this country.

In the year 2023, from the 3,000, the

Ministry is targeting to scale up to

100,000 young people to ensure

digital inclusion and training in ICT

for our country.

Mr Speaker, specifically, paragraph

718 of the 2023 Budget Statement

reads:

“Mr Speaker, as part of efforts towards achieving ‘Goal 4' of UN Sustainable Development

Goals — Ensure inclusive and

Equitable Quality Education and

Promote Lifelong Learning

Opportunities for all - Government established 1,030

ICT labs (80 SHS, 947 JHS, and

3 Nursing Colleges) to serve as

access points, providing ICT

services to more than 240,000

students under the School

Connectivity Programme. In

2023, Government will equip

120 additional schools, (40 SHS

and 80 Basic), with ICT

laboratories. Special considera-

tion will be given to schools of

the 2022 winners of Girls in ICT

Initiative competitions.”

Mr Speaker, this is an innovation

to ensure that the girl child is not left

behind. This digital education would

ensure that our country or the young

ones are carried along in the area of

ICT.

The Ministry of Information has

undertaken a number of activities by

holding town hall meetings to

educate people on the Budget State-

ment and has taken keen interest in

the key programme initiated by the

Greater Accra Regional Minister

dubbed, “Operation Clean your Frontage” and it has worked so well.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

In 2023, they would be scaling up

social intervention programmes by

way of education.

Going forward, one of the key

things that the Ministry would be

doing in 2023 is to ensure that

misinformation and disinformation in

our body politic or in Ghana is done

away with. We call on Hon Members

of Parliament to approve this Budget

Statement and ensure that we keenly

participate in this process to ensure

we do away with misinformation and

disinformation.

Mr Speaker, again, the Ministry

of Communications and Digitalisation

came up with a very important policy

of SIM card re-registration that has

the potential to reduce fraud in

business transactions that has

characterised our businesses and the

space over time. We commend the

Ministry for taking the bold decision

to ensure that everybody re-registers

their SIM cards, and we believe that

it would reduce the incidence of

fraud. When one goes to the Ghana

Police headquarters to look at the

data on fraud being perpetuated by

the use of a powerful tool called a

SIM card, it is something that we

should all be worried about, and I am

happy the Ministry has taken the

giant step to ensure that we get our

SIM cards re-registered.

Mr Speaker, in the fibre-optic

backbone of this country, much work

has been done to improve it to ensure

that the SmartWorkplace is enhanced

so that our Metropolitan, Municipal

and District Assemblies (MMDAs)

would continue to enjoy seamless and

smooth operation. When the COVID-

19 pandemic broke, we fell on the

Ministry of Communication to ensure

that we have a SmartWorkplace and

people could work remotely to ensure

that this country continued to run.

This is why, on many occasions, I

have made the call that our National

Service personnel should also be

encouraged to use technology to

work from home because cost of

living today has gone up and the

stipends that we pay them would not

be able to take them to work for the

entire 26 working days. We should

encourage that we use technology to

ensure that they get the necessary

support to work.

Mr Speaker, if we look at 2023

and beyond, what this Government

seeks to do is to improve revenue

mobilisation. There is no way and

nowhere in the world that the

necessary revenue targeted by

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Government can be enhanced or

achieved when technology is not

deployed. That is why we must

support every digitalisation effort by

Government to ensure that we

eliminate the human intervention in

our revenue mobilisation, and the

controls of Government expenditure

should also be driven by technology.

Ghana has enough capacity, and I

believe that if we are able to do that,

definitely, we would be able to ensure

that we get the necessary revenue for

Government businesses.

Mr Speaker, in paragraph 724 of

the Budget Statement, there is an

important message there for the good

people of this country. It is about the

Cyber Security Authority. In 2022,

we developed the draft framework for

licensing cyber security operators

and accreditation for sectorial

computer emergency response teams.

These are very important things that

we might think are just in the Budget

Statement for the sake of being there.

All over the world, if we do not give

certification to people in this space,

obviously, we would not be able to

control, and I am happy to say that

there is much improvement in the

fight against crime in the space of

cyber security, and Ghana has been

one of the first countries in sub-

Saharan Africa, or, perhaps, in the

world to have implemented the cyber

security law, and we are making

progress in that regard.

Mr Speaker, with your permission,

paragraph 725 read:

“Mr Speaker, as part of Government's efforts at digitising information, the

Ministry, through the National

Information Technology Agency

(NITA), enrolled 43 MDAs and

47 MMDAs onto the Smart-

Workplace in 2022. A total of

469 MDAs/MMDAs were signed

onto the SmartWorkplace.

Additionally, a mobile app was

integrated into the Ghana.gov

platform to improve citizen-to-

government engagement. This

has harmonised all government

online payment platforms into

one digital payment service.”

I think that this particular service

can be extended to Hon MPs to have

a seamless interaction with their

constituents even as we work in

Accra. The Hon Minister for

Communications and Digitalisation

should do well to extend this service,

not only to the MMDAs, but, of

course, to our Hon MPs to equally

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

take advantage of this opportunity to

interact with their constituents while

they work in Accra.

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

Mr Speaker, thank
you; I would land very soon. The
Ministry has done so well, and in
looking at all the things we have put
in place, if Hon MPs would support
this Budget Statement and its
accompanying Annual Estimates for
appropriation, this country would
never be the same, and our recovery
would be sooner than we all
anticipate.
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the
opportunity.
Alhaji Bashir A. Fuseini
Alhassan (NDC — Sagnarigu): Mr Speaker, I would like to premise my
presentation with a swipe at the
economy before I go to the
communications.
Mr Speaker, if a man cannot
carry twigs and one adds logs onto his
load as a panacea to the problem, he
or she is either clueless in
deciphering the solution to the
problem or is wicked and wants to
kill the person. — [Laughter] —. There is absolutely no doubt in the
minds of all of us, and as
representatives of the people of this
country, we have a bounden duty to
rise to the defence of the increasing
levels of poverty imposed on our
people, and the excruciating hardship
and suffering they are undergoing.
The last thing we should seek to
do is to add logs to the already-
overburdened load; to add more taxes
and more suffering to them. Posterity
and the country would watch and
judge us, so we must stand up and
defend our people. Those additional
items of increased VAT and income
tax imposed on our people, removal
of threshold on Mobile Money
(MoMo) among others would create
further hardship to our people, and I
would like to make a clarion call to
all of us here to rise up and do
something about it.
Mr Speaker, it is said that the
evidence of the sweetness of a
pudding is not in the aroma it emits,
but it is in the actual eating. The real
issues of the management of the
economy, vis-à-vis the impact it has
on the lives of our people, is clear. Mr
Speaker, last year, before your

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

distinguished self, I brought before

the House a ball of kenkey.

[Laughter]—. [Alhaji A. B. A. Fuseini displays a ball of kenkey and

a piece of fish] This ball of kenkey, at

that time, even though it has suffered

some kwashiorkor, was GH₵2; today, it is GH₵4. This fish, which is the same size as the one I brought last

year, was GH₵6, but this one is GH₵12: just the kenkey and fish— [Interruptions] —. Mr Speaker, what that tells you—

Hon
Member, for the records, at which
location in Ghana did you buy them
at those prices?

Mr Speaker, I
would tender them in. I got them
from the Adabraka Kenkey House; I
would send you there. — [Laughter] —

Adabraka Kenkey House? Very well.

Mr Speaker, it
is abundantly clear that through the
crass incompetence of this Government,
especially, the Economic Manage-
ment Team, and the Hon Minister for
Finance, this economy has been run
into a ditch. It is no wonder that I am
making a clarion call again to the
group of 98, our Hon Colleagues on
the other Side, who have gotten up to
ensure that the Hon Minister for
Finance is shown the door for his
disastrous performance. They should
rise up and do the needful.
Mr Speaker, I told my very good
Hon Friend, Mr Andy Kwame
Appiah-Kubi, that they have taken
hold of a tiger's tail, and when one holds a tiger's tail, they do not leave it until they bring it down, otherwise,
it would devour them if they leave it.
That is the issue that confronts us.
Mr Speaker, I would like to
delve into the communication sector.
Without doubt, the communication
sector is one of the sectors that is like
a cash cow for this country. The
operation of the Mobile Network
Operators (MNOs) alone yields
billions of Ghana cedis for the
country. In fact, in last year alone, the
operations, revenues, and the taxes
paid by these MNOs amounted to
over GH₵4 billion. Last year, MTN alone paid GH₵3.1 billion; that tells us that handling the issues of the
MNOs and, especially, the commu-
nication sector, is a very crucial one
that more often than not requires a lot

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

of stakeholder consultations in the

taking and implementation of

decisions. It is not for nothing that it

is said that no matter how broad one's shoulders are, they cannot go around

the baobab tree. No matter how wise

a person is, their wisdom alone

cannot salvage them from any

difficulty; they would need to consult

an advisor.

Mr Speaker, without any iota of

doubt, if we look at the Budget

Statement and Economic Policy

today, one of the important

programmes that is ongoing and

which has found no expression, but

has been conspicuously missing in

the mention of the Budget Statement

and Economic Policy is the ongoing

SIM registration exercise, which my

Hon Colleague, Mr Sylvester Tetteh,

talked about, but he chose to walk the

truth on its head. As we speak, an

estimated 10.7 million SIM cards

stand deactivated or are on the threat

of being deactivated. I could give the

House a breakdown of the figures

that we have from the various MNOs.

It is estimated that about: 5.7million

for MTN; 2.9 million for Vodafone;

1.8 million for AirtelTigo, and

100,000 for Glo. If these SIMs

actually get deactivated or blocked,

and as I speak, the blocking has

already taken place, and a number of

people have suffered. I can tell the

House that even some Hon Members

have had their SIM cards blocked. I

can mention Dr Godfred Jasaw, Hon

Member of Parliament for Wa East,

whose SIM was blocked as late as last

Friday, together with many people

across the country. This poses a

veritable threat not only to the

infraction of the fundamental human

rights and freedom of the right to

communicate by these millions of

Ghanaians, but even to the

Government itself.

Mr Speaker, when a person is

sitting on the branch of a tree, they do

not cut it, but this Government

appears to be sitting on the same

branch and cutting it. Why do I say

so? About a week ago, the decision

was communicated from the Ministry

of Communications and Digitalisation

to the National Communications

Authority (NCA), to ensure that those

who had not regularised their SIMs

would have their data blocked, so the

data blocking started last week. As of

Friday, 1st December, 2022, they

commenced the exercise of ensuring

that SIMs which have not been

authenticated with the Ghana Cards

were blocked.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, I just gave the

House a figure of 10.7 million. On a

very conservative rate, which covers

areas such as voice, data, SMS,

USSD, mobile money, emergency

calls, and other services, if we were

to take it at this conservative rate for

those who suffer this, one person

paying for instance GH₵20 for voice, GH₵10 for data, GH₵10 for SMS, GH₵10 for mobile money, and GH₵10 for emergency services, this would give us about GH₵60 a month, and that is on a conservative basis.

Now if we multiply this GH₵60 per month by 10.7 million people by 12

for a year, we are going to lose a

conservative GH₵6.3 billion. — [Interruption] — Do the mathematics. I am not as poor in

mathematics as some others would

calculate. — [Laughter]—

Mr Speaker, this would give us a

conservative —

Hon
Member, you have one more minute.
No, you are a Ranking Member.

Mr Speaker,
this would give us a conservative
GH₵6.3 billion. As I already indicated, this would be a loss of
income to the MNOs, which they
cannot get as a result of the
deactivation of the SIMs. This is
revenue that would be lost to them.
The quantum of revenue that they are
able to raise determines the
percentage which they can pay to the
Government as revenue. We have a
lopsided policy where it is no fault of
many of these people whose SIM
cards are being deactivated. I would
be the first person to concede that as
the Hon Minister has said, there may
be a recalcitrant few who may be
holding the cards and may be hedging
their bets not to go and do it. I could
concede to that but overwhelming
numbers of people do not have the
Ghana Card. Some registered as far
back as last year or two years ago, yet
they do not have their Ghana Cards,
so why would they premise the policy
on a card over which they have no
control?
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister
herself agrees with me that she has no
control over the issuance of the
Ghana Card. She does not control the
issuance of the Ghana Card and there
is no obligation by the National
Identification Authority (NIA) to
accede to the request of the Hon
Minister in the issuance of the Ghana
Cards. Indeed, the Director General
of the NIA himself has said that he is

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

not working at the behest of any

institution.

Hon Member, kindly hold on.
Hon Members, having regard to
the state of the Business of the House,
I direct that the House Sits beyond the
regular Sitting hours.
Hon Member, you may continue.

Mr Speaker,
the NIA does not work at the behest
of any other institution nor are they
working to the deadlines of any other
institutions. So, no institution could
direct them as to how they issue their
Ghana Cards. How does one premise
their work on a documentation
process they neither own nor control?
Mr Speaker, I remember, and the
Hon Minister is here, so she would
bear me out that when this policy was
going to be taken, we paid a courtesy
call to the NCA Headquarters, where
as a Ranking Member, I and my Hon
Colleagues had the opportunity to
engage her on this issue of the usage
of the Ghana Card as the sole identity
document. We said that it was replete
with danger, where millions of
Ghanaians run the high risk of not
being able to patronise the exercise.
We did it. The Hon Minister's refrain at the time was that the Legislative
Instrument (L.I) with which she was
working with mandated that,
however, we respectfully disagreed
because the L.I 2111 does not say
anywhere that the Ghana Card should
be the sole identity document.
Nowhere does the L.I say that. It says
that it shall be a principal document,
and there is a whole world of
difference between something being
a principal document and something
being a sole document. It does not
arise.

Mr Speaker, clearly, this is a

matter that would also affect the

fundamental human rights and

freedoms of our people. Mr Speaker,

so take judicious notice of this fact

that what the National Communi-

cation Authority (NCA) is doing now

is a re-registration. It is not a

registration. There is a substantial

difference between registration and

re-registration because they all have

legal ramifications. If somebody has

lawfully acquired a SIM card, and the

NCA is in the process of registering

him or her again, it cannot deprive

that bona fide owner of that card of

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

his or her legitimate and legal right to

the use of that instrument. So, in the

process of re-registration, the NCA

cannot, in suo moto, arrogate to itself

the right to take away their SIM cards

without any legal challenge.

Mr Speaker, this is what we are

facing today, and I would want to

take this opportunity again because,

at the time, we made suggestions to

the Hon Minister to the effect that if

one has the Voter Identity Card,

which is the most popular form of

identification, passport, birth certifi-

cate, they should allow him or her,

who through no fault of theirs - because today, the NCA is punishing

Ghanaians, who through no fault of

theirs, do not have the Ghana Card,

and if, through no fault of theirs, they

do not have the Ghana Card, we

should not impose this obligation on

them to take away their SIM cards.

The NCA is punishing them for

committing no crime, and that is a

gross infringement. Even article 296

of the 1992 Constitution imposes a

duty on an officer to be candid and

fair if he or she is exercising

discretion, and I am sure that we have

to go back and revisit this matter and

ensure that those rights that are

infringed upon are addressed. I am

happy that the Hon Minister is here

and she is listening with rapt

attention.

Mr Speaker, there are also issues

relating to —

Hon
Member, you have one more minute.

Mr Speaker, I
have been disoriented because I
thought I just started.
Mr Speaker, there are also issues
that portend danger. The inability of
some people to use their SIM cards,
even in emergency services, for
which even this particular action bans
them from, even if there is fire or
armed robbery, they cannot get
access to their SIM cards to make a
call. This is a potential death sentence
on many people, which I think the
Hon Minister must look at and
address.
Mr Speaker, I also have to echo,
as the Ranking Member of this
Committee, a serious problem that
affects the Ghana Meteorological
Agency. Currently, both the Ghana
Airport Company Limited (GACL)
and the Civil Aviation Authority
owes Ghana Meteorological Agency
US$80 million —

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

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

That prevents them from undertaking investments that would ensure air safety, and we all know what safety in the air means for all of us, especially those of us who have the propensity to travel at the least excuse, and those who are coming from Qatar after this disastrous experiment. We could see that this is a very serious matter about our aviation safety. These moneys are locked up, and they need to do investment.

Yes, Hon Minister for Communications and Digitalisation?
Minister for Communications
and Digitalisation (Mrs Ursula Gifty
Owusu-Ekuful) (MP): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Budget Statement, particularly as against my sector.
Mr Speaker, before I start, I wish to congratulate the Black Stars for qualifying to represent Ghana and Africa at the World Cup. Out of 51 countries in Africa, only five made this enviable list —

Hon Minister, kindly hold on.
Mr Speaker to take the Chair.
2.05 p.m. —

Yes, Hon Member
you may continue.

Mr Speaker,
I am delighted that you are in the Chair for this my intervention, for I know how passionately you also followed the exploits of the Black Stars during their just-ended campaign to lift high the flag of Ghana at the World Cup. Despite the fact that they did not make it beyond the group stages, I think that we have the beginnings of a team that we could be proud of, and that with the goodwill and support of all us in this country, we can expect them to do even more exploits in continental and international competitions that, hopefully, they would qualify to, and some day, we would all proudly welcome the World Cup into this country hosted and hoisted by our Black Stars.
I am glad that we had the
opportunity to lend our support to them. The main sponsor which

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

facilitated the participation of Ghanaian supporters at the World Cup was MTN, which was the headline sponsor and also one of the foremost companies in this country under my sector. I wish to place on record, my personal appreciation for the hard work and exploits that our young footballers displayed. Unfor- tunately, they could not convert that into the opportunity that would enable them to go through to the round of 16 and beyond. We wish them better luck next time, and look forward to even more exploits in the future.

Mr Speaker, if there is one lesson

that the pandemic taught us, it is that digital infrastructure is indispensable to the growth and development of any economy, and so, I am glad that this Government has indicated that that is one of the priority growth areas of its economy. It could be seen in paragraph 19, where the Budget Statement and Economic Policy indicates the seven-point agenda aimed at restoring the macro-economic stability and accelerating our economic transformation that the expansion of our digital and climate responsive, and physical infrastructure is one of the key pillars on which the restoration of our economy depends.

I am glad to reiterate the strides

that we made in the sector in the past

year, and the programmes and projects that we have planned for the coming year.

Mr Speaker, digital education is

absolutely key, and without the

requisite digital skills, it would be

difficult for our young people to take

advantage of the many opportunities

that are available for them in the

unfolding industrial revolution that is

currently ongoing. As a Ministry and

Government, we prioritise the

acquisition of digital skills for all our

young people and the older ones who

want to take advantage of this

opportunity. In conjunction with the

Ministry of Education, and under the

auspices of the e-Transform Project

funded by the World Bank, we would

be establishing over 300 forty-seater

laboratories in Senior High Schools

(SHS) across the country to make it

possible for our young people to be

exposed to the cutting-edge skills that

they need to progress into the

unfolding world before us.

Mr Speaker, this is in addition to

what the Ghana Investment Fund for

Electronic Communication (GIFEC)

is already doing, as indicated in

paragraph 718 of the Budget

Statement and Economic Policy, and

so we are looking forward to about

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

500 SHS and basic schools being

equipped with Information and

Communication Technology (ICT)

laboratories. We are focusing on

ending or narrowing the gender

digital divide with our flagship

programme, Girls in ICT Project.

Mr Speaker, cyber security is

also a key concern and priority of

ours because it is the flip side of

digitalisation, and if we do not focus

on securing our digital infra-

structure, many of the interventions

that we are making would be exposed

to the threat of harm from cyber-

criminals and cyber-assisted crimes,

and so we are focusing on that.

Ghana has improved its standing

in the global cyber-security index,

and we are now fourth in Africa and

have improved from 36 to about 86

per cent currently. We are working

assiduously to ensure that we put in

place the infrastructure that would

enable us to protect our digital

economy.

Mr Speaker, 98 per cent of the Questions that I am asked in this House from my Hon Colleagues relate to when digital telephony

would be extended to their commu- nities, so I am happy to indicate that next year — we have constructed 1,003 rural telephony sites under the Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project already, and we intend to complete this process by constructing the remaining 1,000 sites by the end of 2023, financing permitting. I am glad the Hon Minister for Finance is here, and I am sure he would do whatever he can to facilitate the release of funds for the conclusion of this project.

If one has decent access to voice

and telephony services, and even the road infrastructure is not very good in his or her area, one can still communicate quite well, learn, trade and engage in commerce quite freely using the digital infrastructure that is available to him or her. Our emphasis on extending connectivity to unserved and underserved areas is not just a fluke; we are determined to connect the unconnected parts of our country to make sure that they can also engage and participate in the digital revolution that is unfolding.

All the other sectors under the

Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation are also working assiduously as indicated in paragraph 715 to 729 of the Budget Statement.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Despite the funding challenges that the Government face, through leveraging on donor funding and private sector resources, each of these sectors including the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), the Ghana Meteorological Agency, the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission, the Cyber Security Authority, and the Data Protection Commission, amongst others; is also working assiduously. They are all working assiduously to improve upon their output to enable us deliver on our mandate to the Ghanaian people, and I can assure my Hon Colleagues in this House that we will continue to work as hard as we have been in the past to ensure that we bring relief to the Ghanaian people.

Mr Speaker, I have to correct

some factual inaccuracies in the

presentation made by the Hon

Ranking Member of the Committee

on Communications who spoke just

before I had the opportunity to. The

SIM registration exercise started in

October 2021 — [Interruption] — in October 2020, actually. It was

supposed to end in March 2022.

It was supposed to start in

October 2021, for six months, to end

in March 2022. It has been extended

several times since then, based on

representations made and an

assessment of this exercise throughout.

The last press statement that I

gave on this matter —

Mr Samuel Nartey George — rose —

Hon Minister, just
a minute. I can see the Hon Deputy
Ranking Member of the Committee
on Communications.

Mr
Speaker, just to advert the Hon

it was not October
2020. Her policy started in October
2021, not 2020, so she is misleading
the House when she says she started
the SIM registration exercise in
October 2020. This is a House of
records. I want to remind her of her
own policy and when she started it.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker,
I believe I corrected what I said, and
the Hon Member was not listening. If
he were, he would have heard that I
said “October 2021 for six months to end in March 2022.” That is the last statement I made. If he were
listening, he would have heard that I

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

recognised that the initial statement

on 2020 was not correct, and I

corrected myself. I thank him for his

intervention, but he should pay more

attention to the statement that I am

making, and he would not be

shooting from the hip.

Mr Speaker, the last statement I

made on this matter was on 11th

November, 2022, at which I stated

clearly, and with your permission, I

would quote:

“Currently, 30,011,082 cards have completed the first stage,

i.e., linking of Ghana Card to

their SIM number, and as at 9th

November, 2022, 20,892,970

subscribers have completed the

SIM card registration - linkage and biometric.”

This means that almost 70 per

cent of those who had completed the

first stage had completed the full

registration. I went on to state that

one key reason why some of those

who linked their phone numbers to

their Ghana Cards have been unable

to complete the bio-capture of stage 2

is because they used other people's cards to link their numbers, and this

includes vendors who use the cards of

others without the knowledge or

consent of the card owners. Their

inability to complete phase II attests

to the robustness of the authentication

process designed into the SIM

registration architecture, which

would flush out all fakes.

Thus, one cannot use someone

else's Ghana Card to register his or her SIM. However, despite the ample

opportunity afforded to all to

complete the registration, some, who

have the Ghana Cards and have

begun the process, have failed to

complete the registration, and so the

announcement was made that all SIM

cards which have completed the first

stage of the registration exercise, but

have not done the second phase

would be blocked from accessing

data services on 20th November, 2022

and completely deactivated on 30th

November, 2022.

All those who had completed the

first phase of the exercise but had not

gone on to complete the second

would have their cards deactivated.

Therefore, it is incorrect to state here

that those who do not have the Ghana

Cards have had their SIM cards

blocked; that is factually incorrect.

This process is being conducted in

phases, and those who are directly

affected by this current deactivation

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

are those who have completed the

first phase of the exercise, but not

gone on to complete the second phase

for reasons best known to them.

The Hon Ranking Member is

wrong to state here that somebody

has had their SIM card deactivated

merely because they do not have the

Ghana Card. We recognise that there

are challenges that some people have

in securing —

Alhaji Alhassan — rose —

Hon Minister,
once again, hold on. I see the Ranking
Member of the Committee on his
feet.

Mr Speaker, I
am sure there is contradiction in the
Hon Minister's own statement. If one does not have the Ghana Card, how
do they even start the first stage?
How do they go to start the first stage,
complete it and go to the second
stage? Those who have even
completed the first stage and have not
done the second have their SIM cards
blocked. If those lying flat on their
backs cannot see God, what about
those with their faces down? How
would one go to the second stage for
their details to be captured for them
to authenticate their SIM cards if they
do not even have the Ghana Card to
start the first stage? It does not arise.
The Hon Minister should rephrase
her statement because I am sure there
are contradictions in it.

Mr Speaker,
there is absolutely no contradiction in
the statement I made, and if the Hon
Ranking Member would also take
time to listen to what I am saying,
maybe, the confusion in his own
mind would be cleared. This is a
phased approach we are taking,
mindful of the challenges that some
people may genuinely have because
of their lack of access to their Ghana
Card.
To refresh our memory here, the
Ghana Card registration exercise
started as far back as 2018. Hon
Members on the other Side actively
campaigned against the registration,
and urged their members and
Ghanaians to boycott the exercise,
and that is a fact. If they had assisted
the country to undertake this national
exercise in the spirit of nationalism at
the time, we would probably not have
found ourselves in this situation. If
some people do not have the Ghana

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Card, because they listened to our

Hon Colleagues on the other Side, we

only have ourselves to blame. Now

that we have helped create this

problem, let us see how we work

together to address the situation.

Mr Yusif Sulemana — rose —

Hon Minister,
wait for just a minute. You do not
need to raise any heat. The Hon
available Leader is now up.

Mr
Speaker, the Hon Minister made an
emphatic statement that the Minority
Side campaigned against the project.
I would like her to provide evidence
of the Minority Side campaigning
against that project; if not, she should
withdraw it. We have worked
together to ensure that a lot of
Ghanaians go in for this Card, only
for her to come and stand here and
say that we have campaigned against
it. We would not take it, and she

Mr Speaker,
the National Democratic Congress
(NDC), led by their General
Secretary, issued a public statement
urging Ghanaians to boycott the
Ghana Card registration exercise. —
—[Interruption] Are they not NDC Members of Parliament? Are they
denying their own party's position now? If they have recanted and
repented of that position, they should
say so and let Ghanaians know that
regarding that position they took
three to four years ago, they have
now come back full circle, because I
have also seen a release issued by
their General-Secretary now urging
the members of the NDC to go and
register for their Ghana Cards. I have
seen that one too and it is on public

Hon Minister,
now you are referring to the General-
Secretary of the NDC. You are not
referring to the Minority Side. They
are two different things. Please, as
Hon Members, you are here, first,
representing your constituents. You
also represent the country in your
capacity here. Because the General
Secretary signed your form to
indicate that the party would sponsor
you to contest in your constituency,
you are sponsored by the party. When
you are talking about Majority and
Minority Groups, you are talking
about the representation in Parliament;
they are not the same, and you have
to be clear in the choice of words.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

The Hon Minister has referred to

statements signed by the General

Secretary of the NDC. She said the

first statement directed that members

of the party should not participate in

the registration exercise. Now, she

has referred to a second one signed by

the same General-Secretary now

calling on the members of the party to

participate in the registration exercise.

Hon Minister, did I get you right?

Yes, Mr
Speaker. You did, but I have not quite
finished because there is a third angle
to it that I was going to allude to.

Is there a third
one?

Yes, Mr
Speaker.

All right, you may
go on.

On the floor of this House, Hon Members, including Alhaji Mohammed- Mubarak Muntaka, also indicated that they were not going to participate in the Ghana Card registration — [Interruption] On the floor of this House, they indicated that they were not going to register for their Ghana
Cards, and even when some showed evidence of it, they said they were all doctored cards. The National Identi- fication Authority (NIA) came to set up here for them to register for their cards, but they said they would not do it. Even here, on the floor of this House, they indicated their opposition to the Ghana Card. Their party rejected it, and they themselves, as Hon Members of this House, also rejected it.
Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak
Muntaka — rose —

Hon Minister, I
would give him the opportunity. You mentioned the name of the Minority Chief Whip; he is up on his feet, so let us listen to him.
Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak
Muntaka: Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister is a senior Member of this House, and she knows that in this House, if one wants to make such reference, one must either quote the official records or they must have their evidence. I challenge the Hon Minister to provide any evidence that I stood in this Chamber to say what she claims I said.
If she cares to know, her
statement is rather irritating the

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

ordinary Ghanaian. We were here — the Ministry facilitated for the telecommunication companies to come here and register Hon Members. They came here and all the staff — a lot of Hon Members here would attest to the fact — I went down there and registered, yet my SIM card is blocked. The Hon Minister has to be responsible in her statement; she should not just irritate people.

If there are real challenges, she should try to deal with them; she should not just trivialise the challenges that we are having. I registered both my MTN and Vodafone SIM cards. As we speak, my MTN SIM card has been blocked after they came to pick our information right here in this House. What is the Hon Minister talking about? If she is referring to other things, that is fine, but she should not say that I stood in this Chamber and said the things she claims I said. She should provide the evidence to the effect that I stood in this Chamber and said what I said.

Mr Speaker, we had all the challenges that we legitimately raised during the registration for the Ghana Card. We believe, and we continue to believe, that the limitation to only the

Ghana Card as the means — they limited people in the way they could register for the Ghana Card, and we said that that was not fair, and we still stand by that. That is the reason many ordinary Ghanaians do not own the Ghana Card today. I do not want to use very harsh words here. She should rather be worried that ordinary Ghanaians do not have the Ghana Card because of her bad policy in limiting the source document with which one can access the Ghana Card. She should be judging the outcome or the positivity of the policy with her own bad decision to limit the source document that one can use in accessing the Ghana Card. She should not insinuate and claim that people have said things on this Floor when that is not the fact.

Yes, we held a press conference

to put out the challenges, but the Hon Minister should not say that I stood on this Floor and made those claims.

Mr Speaker, as I speak, my MTN

SIM card has been blocked. What reason would the Hon Minister give for that? I did the registration right here in this House.

Mr Speaker, kindly call the Hon

Minister to order.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Yes, Hon Majority Chief Whip?

Mr Speaker, I think we should have a certain understanding of proceedings. The Hon Minister got up to make her contribution. Then, Hon Colleagues had reasons to come on a point of Order. Yes, that is great. I read news reports in the media, attributable to the Minority Side — [Interruption] — No, listen — that the Minority Side was against the registration of the Ghana Card — [Interruption] — So, if you are not disputing it, then what are you disputing? — [Interruption] —
Mr Speaker, for my Hon
Colleague to say that the Hon Minister had implemented bad policies — have the Minority Side forgotten that the law was passed by Hon Members? It was not a single action by the Hon Minister so, the Minority Side cannot put the blame entirely on the Hon Minister. No, if Hon Members have a reason that a word had been used — [Interruption] —
Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague
is a very good Friend. When he is speaking, we listen to him, but he would not listen to us. If we have a reason that some were used by the
Hon Minster which she would have to depart from, yes, that is fine. We would look at that, but for the Hon Member to say that it is as a result of her bad policy, is totally unacceptable.
Mr Speaker, please bear with
me. Continuously, the Ministry kept
giving information to the public on
deadlines. Hon Members should have
also supported the campaign. That is
what the Hon Minster is saying. We
should have all been patriotic:
Members should have shown true
patriotism by telling Ghanaians to
participate in that national exercise.
The Minority Side failed to do that
and today, my Hon Colleague is
crying and throwing his hands up. He
failed to be patriotic so, let us be cool.
I know that we would come atop this
situation. The Hon Minister will
show responsibility. We should not
forget that the date for the registration
has been extended on many
occasions, but the Hon Member has
failed to commend her on that.
Mr Speaker, the long and short
of my intervention is that it cannot be
attributable to the Hon Minister alone
because we also passed the law — [Interruption] — and if there is a challenge, we must deal with that as

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

a collective entity and stop attributing

and making unfounded allegations.

Hon Members, I
allowed a number of you to come
back because of Standing Order 86(4)
which says:
“(4) No Member shall speak more than once to any
Question except -
(b) in explanation, as prescribed
in paragraph (5) of this
Order;”
Paragraph 5 of this Standing
Order says,
“(5) A Member who has spoken to a Question may again be
heard for the purpose of
explaining some material
part of his speech which has
been misunderstood, or
vindicating his character or
conduct if it has been
impugned, but he must not
introduce new matter.”
That is why when the Hon
Minister raised the issue and
mentioned the Hon Ranking Member
and later, the Hon Minority Chief
Whip, I called on them to explain that
area, but you do not have to introduce
a new matter.
Now, in trying to explain, you
introduced new matters, and that is
why the Hon Majority Chief Whip
came in on the issue of policy. The
Hon Minister has the right to also
come in to explain whether she has
brought in any bad policy because the
Hon Majority Chief Whip is referring
to the law we passed. We need to
explain these matters because the
public is listening to us so, I would
give you ample opportunity to do
that. Hon Members do not need to be
exchanging foul language when
explaining matters. Please, let us
have decorum in the debate.
Now, Hon Minister, it is your
turn to explain these things.

Mr Speaker,
we need to be clear on what we are
saying here. I rose to correct factual
inaccuracies in the presentation made
by the Hon Ranking Member that
people who did not have Ghana
Cards have had their cards blocked
and I said, no, that had not happened.
It is those who have completed the
first phase of the exercise by linking
their Ghana Cards to their SIM cards,
but had not gone on to do the

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

biometric aspect that had had their

SIM card blocked. That was the point

I was making, and I went on to say

that people did not have their Ghana

Cards because Hon Members of the

NDC and the Minority urged

Ghanaians not to register for the

Ghana Card when the exercise

commenced in the year 2018.

In fact, the Minority Caucus

issued a Statement on 10th June,

2018, and had a press conference

indicating their opposition to the

Ghana Card registration and that they

would not participate in the exercise.

That is a fact and a matter of record,

so, for them to now say that they

never opposed the Ghana Card

registration exercise, is factually

incorrect and this is a House of

record. [Hear! Hear!] [An Hon

Member: It is a House of record. It is

in the Hansard].

Mr Speaker, I indicated in my

statement of 11th November, 2022 as

well, that we were looking at making

other arrangements for those who,

genuinely, do not have the Ghana

Cards to enable them complete the

SIM card registration exercise and

that would be announced in due

course.

Mr Speaker, it is absolutely

imperative that we are factual as Hon

Members of this House when we are

making our statements because this is

a House of record. Yes, the Minority

Side were opposed the Ghana Card

registration exercise and urged

Ghanaians and their members to

boycott the exercise. Some of them

did and, as a result, they do not have

their Ghana Cards today to complete

serious national exercises, including

the SIM registration exercise. Hence,

if some blame needs to be assigned,

the Minority Side have part of that

blame for going down that path

which, unfortunately, is causing

certain Ghanaians some discomfort.

Mr Speaker, the problem has

already happened and now, what we

need to do is to see how we work

together to facilitate the acquisition

of the cards so that this exercise

would be completed or to make

alternative arrangements for this

exercise to be completed.

It is also a fact that the National Identity Register Regulations (L.I. 2111) indicates that the only identity document which would be acceptable for SIM card registration, among other transactions, is the Ghana Card. By subsidiary legislation passed by

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

this House which is later in time than the SIM Registration Regula-tions that were also passed by this House, we accepted that we would only use the Ghana Card for SIM registration.

Mr Speaker, it is not Ursula

Owusu-Ekuful who made that law; it is the Parliament of Ghana which passed that subsidiary legislation. We did not just pass that subsidiary legislation idly.

We go through a lot of pain and

trouble to pass laws in this House, and the laws we pass are meant to be enforced. If we do not like it, we come back and amend it in this House. However, so long as it is on the statute books, as for my house and I, we will serve the Lord.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

2:41p.m. —

Hon
Member for Tain, Mr Adama Sulemana?
Mr Adama Sulemana (NDC —
Tain): Mr Speaker, on the 9th of July, 2019, the National Identification
Authority (NIA) published a report on their website about the former President, John Dramani Mahama, and his wife registering their SIM cards. Yes, it is true. In the year 2018, the NDC raised some objections to components of the registration exercise, which were subsequently addressed by the NIA, and that on 9th July, 2019, the former flagbearer for the NDC went to register telling all members of the NDC to register so, what the Hon Minister is saying now that the NDC sabotaged the registration of the NIA cannot be true.
Mr Speaker, the Ministry of
Communications and Digitalisation
is supposed to be in charge of the
recovery from the COVID-19
pandemic. The Hon Minister also
made it clear that digital infra-
structure is indispensable in our
attempt to recover from the COVID-
19 pandemic, and that it is a priority
of the Government.
Mr Speaker, contingency votes
in the 2023 Budget Statement and
Economic Policy is GH₵1.4 billion. The priority area under the Ministry
of Communications and Digitalisation,
which is supposed to be an anchor to
recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,
is GH₵629,382,992. There is no

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

priority here. Contingency is more

important to this Government than

the Ministry of Communications and

Digitalisation.

Mr Speaker, the Government

told us in the 2022 Budget Statement

and Economic Policy that it wanted

to safeguard the interest of the

vulnerable group. Paragraph 317 of

the 2022 Budget Statement says:

“Mr Speaker, to safeguard efforts being made to enhance

financial inclusion and protect

the vulnerable, all transactions

that add up to GH₵100 or less per day (which is approximately

GH₵3000 per month) will be exempt from this levy.”

Today, all of a sudden, all these

vulnerable groups have become non-

vulnerable. They are now able, so the

threshold of the Electronic

Transaction Levy (E-Levy) has been

scrapped. Yes, as the Hon Minister

rightly said, paragraph 715 to 729 of

the 2023 Budget Statement are all

geared towards policies that the

Government has put in place to

increase financial inclusion by

providing supply side factors, such as

digital inclusions like the Rural

Telephony Project (RTP) and all

other interventions that the Government

is putting in place.

Mr Speaker, this Government

has got a penchant for policy

inconsistencies. As they are

providing supply side measures, they

are also providing demand side

measures to stifle financial inclusion.

For instance, paragraph 715 of the

2023 Budget Statement states that:

“Mr Speaker, Government, through the Ghana Investment Fund for

Electronic Communications

(GIFEC), constructed 1,003

rural telephony sites under the

Rural Telephony and Digital

Inclusion Project. This has

benefitted 1,353 rural commu-

nities that can now make calls

and use the internet via their

mobile phones, thereby opening

huge possibilities for social and

economic activities.”

Yet, the Government is blocking

the SIM cards of these rural folks as

well. How do we get the rural

telephony site operational without the

mobile phones? How do we remove

the threshold of GH₵100 on the E- Levy Act just to safeguard the

interest of the vulnerable, build

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

telephony sites, but use taxation to

make it difficult for these same

people to access these sites? This is

what we call, policy inconsistencies.

Mr Speaker, as regards Digital

Terrestrial Television (DTT), we

were supposed to have migrated from

analogue to digital in the year 2017;

that was the initial deadline, and it

was extended to the year 2020. The

Hon Minister for Communications

and Digitalisation has supervised the

failure to migrate us from analogue to

digital even though every year, she

attends International Telecommunication

Union (ITU) meetings. [Hear!

Mr Speaker, in the implement-

tation of the E-Levy, the Ministry

decided to throw the policy to the

House. When it became apparent that

Ghanaians were not going to accept

the E-Levy, the Ministry of

Information, through the Ministry of

Finance, organised town hall

meetings to explain to Ghanaians the

reasons we should be paying the E-

Levy. That should have been the first

step, and not an afterthought. We

would be interested to find out how

much moneys were paid in the

organisation of these town hall

meetings.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Ranking

Member of the Committee on

Communications attempted, but the

time was not sufficient - as regards the Ghana Metrological Agency

(GMet), this House passed the Ghana

Meteorological Agency Act, 2004

(Act 682) , where 25 per cent of

levies at our ports were supposed to

be given to GMet. The Ghana Airport

Company Limited (GACL), under

the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority

(GCAA), has refused to pay this

money. Thankfully, the Hon Minister

for Finance is here. Can the Hon

Minister for Finance tell us why they

have refused to pay the moneys owed

to GMet which is backed by law? [An

Hon
Member, you are out of order. The
GACL is a company, so, please
address your issue, but leave out the
Hon Minister.

Mr Speaker, GMet is supposed to be remitted this amount. The GACL and GCAA have refused to give these moneys to GMet. All of us are in jeopardy. GMet needs to buy equipment to ensure that we are safe, able to travel, and offer services to the agricultural and fisheries sub-

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

sectors. We urge the Ministries of Communications and Digitalisation, Finance, and Transport to put their heads together and remit these moneys to GMet to do their work.

Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Information, as part of the imple- mentation of their Sector Medium- Term Development Plan, has stated that they are engaging in Media Capacity Enhancement Programme for some selected media houses and personnel. It is important to enhance the capacity of our media personnel, but we should be careful not to create the impression that these media houses may not be able to perform the statutory roles that they are supposed to perform. There is a danger of these media houses not being able to be the fourth estate of the realm.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for Information also spoke about the Broadcasting Bill which is before a Committee for onward submission to this House, as stated in the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.

The Broadcasting Bill has been on the backburner for a long time, so it is refreshing that the Hon Minister

for Information stated that they would bring it back to the House.

Mr Speaker, as I said, the

Government has been providing

supply side factors, and at the same

time, using demand side factors to

stifle the same programme that they

intend to bring. I would urge the

Ministry of Communications and

Digitalisation to tread cautiously with

this SIM re-registration exercise. It is

possible for somebody to register for

the first stage to lose his or her Ghana

Card thereby making him unable to

register for the second stage so, it is

not true that when somebody

registers for the first stage, and he is

not able to register for the second

stage, it is deliberate. The person may

lose his or her card, go to NIA for

replacement of card which will take

another six months.

For the fact that they are

deactivating people's card, and blocking their SIM cards because

they have done only the first phase

registration without doing the second

phase —

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

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

All
right, thank you Mr Speaker.
Mr Speaker, I would like to help
the Hon Minister for Communi-
cations and Digitalisation. She needs
help because she is not on the field,
she does not even know that one can
do the first phase registration then
lose his or her Ghana Card, and then
have to apply for card replacement.
We are urging the Hon Minister for
Communications and Digitalisation
to consider these factors.
Mr Speaker, somebody can
marry and then change his or her
name, and this also becomes an issue
with the Ghana Card. I would urge
the Hon Minister to tread cautiously
so that we bring Ghanaians on board
without blocking their SIM cards,
otherwise, the Ministry of Commu-
nications and Digitalisation's policy from paragraph 719 to 729 of the
Budget Statement that seeks to
improve digital infrastructure would
come to naught.
Mr Speaker, I thank you very

Very well, Hon Member for New
Juaben North?
Mr Kwasi Boateng Adjei (NPP
— New Juaben North): Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to
contribute to this debate.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister
for Finance was candid with all of us,
he said that — and I think that the President re-echoed this same fact,
that we are going through challenging
times and therefore, the Budget
Statement has been developed with
the view to ensuring that we create
some fiscal space to provide for
goods and services, and to move this
country forward. Therefore, for our
Hon Colleagues on the other Side to
lament with the problems that we
have and say that we promised that in
2022, we would do a, b, c, d, and we
have not been able to deliver is not
the issue for now.
The issue for now is that we need
to re-focus and re-position ourselves
so that we can continue to deliver for
the good people of this country. I am
speaking for the water, works and
housing sector of the economy.
The Government continues to
work towards the provision of good
drinking for the good people of this
country. If we look at paragraph 676

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

of the Budget Statement, it talks

about H.E. the President inaugurating

the Bolgatanga Water Project under

which the communities around

Bolgatanga, including Navrongo,

Bongo and other places have been

provided with water and the target

community that is being served is

347,000 people being provided with

potable water.

Mr Speaker, besides this water

facility that we have done for

Bolgatanga, we are working towards

provision of water for the Tarkwa

Municipality and its surrounding

areas. This Parliament approved the

credit facility for the provision of this

water and this when executed, would

serve a number of communities,

including the Tarkwa township,

Akyempem, Agona Wassa, Atoabo,

Bonsaso and others.

Again, on the STRABAG Water

Project, Mr Emmanuel Kwasi

Bedzrah said it was in the 2022

Budget Statement and has not seen

any significant progress, but the

Budget Statement tells us that works

on this project have reached 95 per

cent. I am surprised that Mr Bedzrah

said that this project, which is

supposed to provide water for five

districts in the Volta Region, is

suffering the kind of challenges that

he raised in his presentation.

This project is also intended to

provide water for a target population

size of 234,000 and this is supposed

to cover Adaklu Anyigbe, Agortime,

Central Tongu, Ho West and North

Tongu Districts. This project, like I

said earlier, is 95 per cent complete.

Besides these water interven- tions, 2023 would see water projects coming up for Damongo, Keta, Sekondi-Takoradi, Sunyani, Tamale, Tarkwa, Wenchi, Yendi and other areas. Then, under the Greater Kumasi/Greater Accra Water Project, it is expected to improve upon water and sanitation in these areas particularly, in communities where we have challenges and this essentially looks at the distribution of water to people's homes. This project is ongoing, and it is expected that by the close of 2023, clean potable water would have been provided for our people in these communities.

Mr Speaker, still within the

water sector, we also have the Mim

and Yendi Water Projects, which

were rehabilitated and expected to be

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

expanded in 2023. As far as water

delivery services are concerned, the

Government is doing well in ensuring

that adequate water is provided to the

Ghanaian people.

Mr Speaker, another area where

we have seen some significant works

is sanitation. Under the sanitation, the

Greater Accra Resilient and

Integrated Development (GARID)

project is expected to come on board

in the 2023 budget period, under

which waste management facilities

would be created for Ga West and Ga

East Municipalities. Under this

project, we are working on engineers' sanitary landfills and then material

recovery centres. These are meant to

ensure that we improve upon the

sanitation situation that we have in

this country.

Mr Speaker, I would move to the

Human Settlement and Development

Programme which essentially talks

about housing. In the last budget

period and going into 2023 Budget

period, there has been some amount

of working in the delivery of housing.

Three hundred and twenty units of

housing have been provided under

the Security Services Housing

Programme. This project is 90 per

cent complete and is expected to be

expanded going into next year.

Again, next year, plans are afoot to

provide accommodation for the

Ghana Prisons Service, and this is

captured in the Budget Statement.

Again, for Tema and its

surrounding areas, the Tema Develop-

ment Company Limited (TDC)

development project would be

continued in 2023. For now, 3,016

housing units have been provided

under the Kpone Affordable Housing

Project. Moving forward, we also

have 40 housing units which have

been provided at Adenta, and 342

which are being built in the

Koforidua area.

Again, 120 housing units are

being executed at Sefwi Wiawso, and

another 120 for Pwalugu. These

projects are meant to provide good

accommodation units for the civil and

public servants that we have in this

country.

Mr Speaker, therefore, one can

see that even with these challenges

that we are having, occasioned

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

largely by exogenous factors, the

Government is doing quite well in

ensuring that adequate housing is

provided to the good people of this

country.

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

Mr Speaker, in
conclusion, I would like to urge all of
us to support the approval of this
Budget Statement and to unite behind
the President, and for that matter the
Hon Minister for Finance, to ensure
that we are able to develop this
country for the citizenry.
Mr Speaker, I thank you.

The
next contributor is the Hon Member
for Ho Central, Mr Benjamin Komla
Kpodo.
Mr Benjamin Komla Kpodo
(NDC — Ho Central): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to
contribute to the Budget Statement.
My area for the debate is concen-
trated on the local government sector.
Mr Speaker, I have read
paragraph 473 to 492 of the 2023
Budget Statement — those are the areas related to local government. I
found out that there is virtually
nothing there for 2023. I expected
that, considering the times that we
find ourselves in, Government would
attempt to deepen decentralisation by
reducing its expenditure and
offloading the major decentralised
functions to the MMDAs.
Mr Speaker, for instance, I
expected that the Government would
dissolve the Development Authorities,
Coastal, Middle Belt and Northern
Development Authorities, and
offload their functions and resources
to the MMDAs, but there was no
room for that in the Budget
Statement.
Mr Speaker, I also expected that
national identification and the card
issue the would be offloaded to the
MMDAs because, who can better
identify a citizen in my constituency
the Municipal Chief Executive, the
Hon Minister for Communications
and Digitalisation or NIA? Are they
better placed to identify citizens in
my constituency and issue them with
cards? I think the MMDAs are better
placed, so, we need to offload this.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, again, the Ghana

National School Feeding Programme

has been centralised in Accra. Who is

better placed to know which schools

in the district merit the Programme?

These are the things I thought that,

considering the circumstances we

find ourselves in, the Hon Minister of

Finance would offload to the

MMDAs, resource them properly,

and give them the job to do.

Mr Speaker, the Births and

Deaths Registry is also highly

centralised. They live in an office

here in Accra. These are the things

which are the responsibilities of the

MMDAs, and I thought these would

be incorporated in the 2023 Budget

Statement. I am just coming from

Bangkok, and I went to the Bangkok

Metropolitan Assembly. In one of the

offices, one can access these services

just on one floor. One can register

births, register deaths, register

marriages, and get one's national identification card right under one

roof, and it is an efficient service

delivery. We have, however,

centralised these services and not

asked the local assemblies to do

anything. Therefore, I am disappointed

that we have not taken the opportunity

to deepen decentralisation in the 2023

Budget Statement. We have

maintained the bureaucracies at the

head office, which is increasing our

overhead cost at the national level.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister is

sitting down here in the Chamber. He

has to go and look at these things

again and see what he can do to

decentralise and reduce the cost of

central Government operations.

Mr Speaker, the MMDAs

depend on the District Assemblies

Common Fund (DACF) and rates and

levies they collect in their areas for

survival, but one would find out that

the Ministry of Finance has

constantly violated article 252(2) of

the 1992 Constitution in dealing with

DACF. Article 252(2) says clearly

that DACF should be paid to the

MMDAs in quarterly instalments, but

as we are here now, the Government

has not released even a penny for

2022 to the DACF Secretariat.

Therefore, the Govern-ment is

depriving the MMDAs of funds, and

they are sitting down there doing

nothing.

Mr Speaker, the other major

issue in which the Government seeks

to deprive the MMDAs of funds is the

collection of property rates. Article

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

245 (b) gives that responsibility to the

MMDAs.

However, since the beginning of

the year, the Government has been

eyeing that money to bring it to the

centre. Last year, the Government

budgeted GH₵480 million for property rate collection and this year,

I have seen another GH₵165 million for central Government revenue.

Why is this so? Why is the Ministry

of Finance seeking to collect moneys

from the District Assemblies to the

centre? I think that we have to

seriously review this. The Ministry of

Finance cannot take moneys from the

District Assemblies. It is a

constitutional debacle the Hon

Minister wants to put on himself

again.

Mr Speaker, the other point is

that when the Government tried to cut

down on DACF and we went to the

Supreme Court, the Supreme Court

gave a judgement on how the

Common Fund should be treated, but

as we sit in this House, the Ministry

of Finance has refused to fully

comply with the Supreme Court

judgement.

For instance, last year, when

they were computing the District

Assemblies Common Fund, they

completely took out total revenue

emanating from mineral resources

revenue. Therefore, I do not know

whether they would like us to go back

to the Court to get enforcement of the

judgement of the Supreme Court

before they comply.

This is a vey simple thing. The

Ministry was told to calculate all total

revenue and give five per cent to the

District Assemblies Common Fund

and that one too has become a

problem. The Ministry puts all the

moneys at the centre and uses it

depriving the District Assemblies of

funds. I think that the Hon Minister

for Finance should go back and

address these issues before he comes

to the House for the Appropriation

Bill to be passed. Otherwise, it would

be difficult for some of us to agree to

the figures that are already in the

Budget Statement for appropriation.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister made the country know that GH₵25 billion has been spent for the cleaning of the banking sector. There are people in Ghana now who have lodged their moneys with those banks

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

which were collapsed, but up till now, they have not received their payments. I have a receipt with me from the GN Bank. [Interruption]. Yes, a GN Bank receipt of GH₵3,555.28, and up till now, the individual has not been paid. [Interruption] Yes, the individual is my constituent so I am interested in her getting back her money from the GH₵25 billion that the Government has spent on the banking sector clean- up — [Interruption] I could give you —

Mr Speaker, they say they are

managing the economy, but what they say is different from what is actually happening on the ground. I think that the Hon Minister for Finance has to — that is why we are quarrelling with him. We would like him to leave because he does not respect these governance issues. I would call on the Hon Minister for Finance, who is seated in the Chamber, to go back and do some revisions of issues affecting decentralisation and then the figures that are due to be paid to the DACF before we approve the Appropriation Bill.

I thank you.

Very well.
I would move on to the Hon
Member for Gushegu, Mr Alhassan

Alright, I would move on to the

Hon Member for Lower West Akim,

Mr Charles Acheampong.

Mr Charles Acheampong

(NPP — Lower West Akim): Mr Speaker, I thank you for the

opportunity to speak on the Motion

numbered 7, on the approval of the

Budget Statement and Economic

Policy of the Government of Ghana

for the year 2023.

Mr Speaker, first, I would like to

correct my Hon Senior Colleague, Mr

Benjamin Kpodo. It looks like he has

finished the funds in the DACF in his

District Assembly and so, he does not

even know that two quarters of the

Common Fund have already been

supplied. Perhaps, he should ask his

District Assembly and they would tell

him that two quarters of the DACF

for 2022 have already gone. He

should check.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member has finished it so he is not too sure about it. He said two quarters of the 2022 Common Fund has not yet been

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

supplied. He actually said “none” and so I would like to correct that.

Mr Speaker, again, my Hon

Colleague at the other Side also raised the issue of the Hon Minister for Communications and Digitalisation going to International Telecommu- nication Union (ITU) meetings and not being able to correct the digital migration. I wish to also state that going to ITU does not really migrate analogue to digital; it does not.

The Hon Minister for Commu-

nications and Digitalisation is actually promoting the ICT agenda of Ghana. The reasons for the delay in analogue to digital broadcasting is far from going to ITU. Perhaps, he should go back and he would understand that changes in the prices have caused the delay in digital migration. He should not say that the Hon Minister travelling to ITU has delayed all those things.

Mr Speaker, secondly, the Hon

Ranking Member for the Committee on Works and Housing, Mr Vincent Oppong Asamoah, also claimed that the Government of Ghana has failed in the galamsey fight. I would like to also correct that. Maybe, he should check. The fact that the figures of turbidity are not in the Budget Statement does not constitute a

failure because if we go into the hinterlands, we would realise that the waters are gradually becoming clean and people are accessing clean water. The Hon Ranking Member should not throw dust into our eyes and say that the galamsey fight has gone bad.

Mr Speaker, I would like to

touch on paragraph 21 of the Budget

Statement which states that the

Ministry would mobilise domestic

revenue through the increase of VAT,

fast-track the implementation of the

Unified Property Rate Platform

Programme in 2023 and review the

E-Levy Act; these are all taxes. I

would like to take our minds back to

the Holy Bible. The Bible already

agrees that taxes are important that is

why Jesus Christ said that we should

give to Caesar what belongs to

Caesar and give to God what belongs

to God. Therefore, why would we

want to run away from taxes? I find it

a bit strange.

If we pick from a random

sampling of one to 10 people, we

would find about four or five people

who would like to travel outside the

country. However, we should not

forget that travelling outside the

country also constitute that they

would be paying more taxes when

they go there. We do not want to

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

develop our country by paying more

taxes. This is why I agree with the

policy statement of tax payment. It

would give us an opportunity to

increase our revenue generation, and

also bring up the productivity in this

country. Therefore, I agree with the

policy statement of generation of

taxes in the Budget Statement.

Mr Speaker, I would now be

speaking on works and housing,

specifically, on the sea defence

project currently being undertaken.

Ghana has a number of forts and

castles. Fort Kongenstein in Ada

Foah, which was built by the Danes

in 1784, has been completely lost and

we know that memories are best

served when we visualise them. If we

are explaining to the younger

generation that there was once Fort

Kongenstein, what would we do?

They would only see photos and that

is nothing to write home about. Fort

Prinzenstein in Keta is also gradually

being lost to the rising sea levels and

increasing temperatures. This is as a

result of climate change and global

warming.

Mr Speaker, I would like to draw

our minds to the fact that Ghana has

a total of over 500km stretch of

coastline, stretching from the east to

west and vice versa. Out of this, a

total of 37 per cent of our coastland

was lost to the sea from 2005 to 2017.

It is so as a result of global warming.

Two metres of our coastland is lost

every year.

Mr Speaker, with this alarming

rate, we would gradually lose

everything that has to do with our

coastland. We might lose the

production of our white gold, which

is salt, coastal activities such as

economic activities and our leisure

time we spend in the coastal areas.

Therefore, the Government of H.E.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has

made provisions in the 2023 Budget

Statement to continue with the

construction of sea defence wall.

Mr Speaker, Government has

already completed the ones in

Dansoman, Komenda, Elmina (Phase

III) in 2022. Cape Coast, Anomabo

and other areas are almost at an

average of 95 per cent complete.

Government would continue to do

that in 2023. It would continue to

protect the lives and properties of

people in Teshie, La, Apam, Axim,

Ningo-Prampram, Newtown, Angloga,

Takoradi and the Maritime

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

University. This is to ensure that we

still have a good number of economic

activities in the coastal land.

Mr Speaker, we should not

forget that we have about a quarter of

our population living in the

coastland. Once we lose this beautiful

coastland of ours, we would have lost

a number of economic activities,

places of abode, endangered animals

like sea turtles, and the beautification

of our coastal areas. Therefore, I

welcome this 2023 Budget Statement

of the Government of H.E. Nana

Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, which

continues to protect lives in coastal

areas.

Mr Speaker, I would like to end

on the continuous flagship programme

that is being done by the Ministry of

Works and Housing, which continues

to desilt drains and construct drains

for the people of this country. This

year, we witnessed a lot of heavy

rainfall which was a bit devastating.

However, without the timely

intervention of the Ministry of Works

and Housing, it would have been

worse than what we witnessed this

year. Therefore, it is pleasing to see

in the 2023 Budget Statement that the

Government of H.E. Nana Addo

Dankwa Akufo-Addo would continue

to construct drains and desilt all

gutters in the country.

Mr Speaker, with these few

words of mine, I thank you for giving

Hon
Member for Bia East, Mr Richard
Acheampong, you may kindly speak.
Mr Richard Acheampong
(NDC — Bia East): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the
opportunity to contribute to the
debate on the floor.
Before I move to the substantive
issue I would like to speak on, I
would like to correct my Hon Friend
and namesake, Mr Charles
Acheampong. I wanted to forgive
him, but the Hon Minister for Finance
is in the House now. My Hon
Colleague challenged my Hon
Deputy Ranking Member that the
Ministry has paid the first and second
quarter funds allocated to the DACF.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister is
in the House so, I would like to know
whether he could prove to any Hon
Member in the House how much the
Ministry of Finance stated in the
Budget Statement to have been, has

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

transferred to the DACF. I humbly

refer the House to Appendix 2A on

page 184 of the 2023 Budget

Statement -[Interruption].

Mr Speaker, no Hon Member

should be scared about the reference

I have made; I would deal with it. Not

a cent has been transferred to DACF

in the whole of 2022. This has never

happened in the history of this

country. The GH₵750 million that the Ministry of Finance transferred to

DACF to pay for the first and second

quarters was a borrowed fund. The

Hon Minister is in the House, so he

should show us where it is stated

otherwise in the Budget Statement.

Under Government Operations,

the Government raised GH₵65 billion by the end of September 2022.

The projected amount was GH₵67 billion; however, the Ministry of

Finance was able to raise GH₵65 billion and transferred GH₵0.00 of the raised amount to the DACF.

Mr Speaker, my Hon Colleague

should just read the Budget Statement,

and not confuse any Hon Member in

the House. The Hon Minister says

this is the Nkabom Budget. He needs

to reach out and talk to Hon Members

so that he gets a buy-in. He should not

come and confuse us because we

already know what it is in the Budget

Statement.

Mr Speaker, I refer the House to

paragraph 100 of the 2023 Budget

Statement. The Hon Minister spent

GH₵25 billion and more for the financial sector cleanup. Yet, he says

that Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)

has reduced from 19.8 to 14.2 per

cent — [Interruption]. If my Hon Colleagues would like me to explain

it to them, I would do so because that

is my field; I have 25 years

experience in banking. We needed

only GH₵9 billion to save the banks so, what was the point of spending

GH₵25 billion if the financial sector is still not on its feet?

Mr Speaker, My Hon Colleague

touched on some institutions which

have not received their funds. The

Ministry of Finance has not even

validated Prestige Capital Limited,

let alone to access the number of

customers who have their moneys

locked with the bank. It has been five

years now and the customers have

still not been paid. Validation has not

been done to even know how much

the bank owes the customers.

However, the Hon Minister for

Finance says that the financial sector

is sound and everything is well.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, at least, the Hon

Minister has considered in the 2023

Budget Statement that we live in a

tough time and that the House should

support him to raise revenue. Mr

Speaker, if the Hon Minister for

Finance wants us to support him to

raise revenue, then does he need

GH₵80 million to build a cathedral at this time? I am a Christian - [Interruption]. We do not need

GH₵80 million to build a cathedral at this time. We have to prioritise our

needs, and cut our coat according to

our cloth so that the Hon Minister

could get a buy-in and support from

the Minority Side. Some expenditures

would never help us.

Mr Speaker, the Government has

reported to us that there would be a

net freeze of employment. In 2022,

the staff strength under the Office of

Government Machinery stood at

2,111. The Hon Minister would like

to increase the number to 3,681,

which is a 1,570 difference. Which

agency or Office of Government

Machinery is critical to be filled with

1,570 people? Yet, the Hon Minister

for Finance wants to cut cost. He has

to deal with the low hanging fruit.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister

should kindly go and revise the

Budget Statement so that he could get

the buy-in from the Minority Side of

the House. We cannot witness a

falling economy. We need to support

him, but we cannot do so with the

numbers he has provided; we cannot

support these numbers. The Hon

Minister should also try to speak with

his people; their language, actions

and inactions should be

reconciliatory. We hear them throw

salvos as if all is well, but all is not

well.

Mr Speaker, I listened to the Hon

Minister this morning. His Excellency the President told us that there would not be any haircut; however, some of us have been skinned now. Some people have lost their moneys to the banks so, when we go to the banks now, there are no individuals. It is only the names of the bank. They have signed contracts with the banks, taking 23 to 25 per cent; however, they would receive only zero per cent interest. How could the banks, which have already fallen from 18.9 to 14.2 per cent, pay the customers? There is an obligation on them. They have signed contracts, yet the Hon Minister is giving them zero per cent, and he ended by quoting the Bible again. Man must

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

eat; we need to survive. We cannot only read the Bible and go to sleep afterwards.

I thank God that the Hon Minister is here; he should go and revise his numbers, so that when we meet as a Committee, dealing with the appropriation and estimates, at least, we would have a sense of direction so that we would get the buy-in of everybody else, he would have it tough when he meets the Finance Committee.

Mr Speaker, the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development went around the country. There were ongoing projects and when we asked the Regional Ministers or the District Chief Executive who the contractors were, they told us that they did not know them or when the contracts were awarded. They sit in Accra, award contracts, and impose them on the local assemblies. Who does the supervision? By the end of the day, the Regional Ministers and DCEs would be there watching. Any question asked of them, they cannot provide answers simply because nobody engaged them; they were not part of the process, even though we have procurement processes which they must go through. The Hon

Minister must stop awarding contracts in Accra.

Under the NDC, we called

something papillon projects, where in

their own composite budgets, we

looked at their needs and allowed

them to award their contracts so that

we do the monitoring. At the end of

the day, moneys would be given from

the Ministry of Finance. The Hon

Minister for Finance told us in the

Budget Statement that there were

some payments outside GIFMIS, and

that going forward, they would

correct them. For six years, it has not

been corrected, and people were

making payments outside the

GIFMIS. Nobody has been sacked or

punished. There are a lot of

loopholes.

The other day, there was a

Report by the Public Accounts

Committee, and now another one has

been brought. There are infractions in

the system, yet they are crying for

revenue. Where would they get it

from? The President would not

reshuffle Hon Ministers, and the Hon

Minister for Finance, under the

Public Financial Management Act,

would also not punish anybody for

wrongdoing. It is like all is well. The

Hon Minister should know that all is

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

not well, so he should sit up and

punish people so that it would serve

as a deterrent before he goes. I know

he would be leaving office, but he

should do that before he goes because

98 MPs on the Majority Side have

given the indication that they want

him to leave. I am not part of the 98;

I am part of the 136 on the Minority

Side.

Mr Speaker, before he goes, he

should punish people under the

Public Financial Management Act,

2016 (Act 921); he has the authority

to do that. He should not come and

complain to us in the Budget

Statement that people are making

payments outside GIFMIS. What has

he done? Ghost names! The Hon

Minister said that he has identified

about 1,500 under ghost names,

including the Chief Director at his

Ministry. He was classified as a

ghost, yet he is here and alive. The

dashboard that was paid for, what is

its use? There is no synergy; systems

are not communicating with each

other so, the Hon Minister sits in

Accra and does not know what is

happening at the local level. The

Minister for Finance is in charge of

finances. He should please know that

we are in tough times and we need to

help him salvage the situation, but

this is not the way to go.

Mr Speaker, I think I would meet

the Hon Minister —

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

Mr
Speaker, I thank you very much for

Hon
Deputy Majority Leader, I have “Hon Ntim”. Is it the Hon Member for Nsuta-Kwamang Beposo, Ms
Adelaide Ntim, or the Hon Member
for Assin South, Rev John Ntim
Fordjour? [An Hon Member: They

Very well. Hon Deputy Majority

Yes, Hon Member for Akatsi

South, Mr Bernard Ahiafor.

Mr Bernard Ahiafor (Akatsi

South — NDC): Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for the opportunity to

contribute to the Budget Statement

and Economic Policy of the Government

of Ghana for 2023 financial year.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister

for Health was here to debate the

Budget Statement, and I thought that

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

he would give a detailed explanation

as to why trainee nurses would be

paid allowances while in school, but

after school, they cannot be

employed.

Mr Speaker, the Hon Member

for Sagnarigu, Alhaji Bashir Fuseini

Alhassan, in his debate, posed a

question — the legal basis of the SIM re-registration using the Ghana Card

as the only source document. I

thought that the Hon Minister for

Communications and Digitalisation,

Mrs Ursula G. Owusu-Ekuful, in

debating, would have responded fully

to that particular question posed, but

I did not get the answer. Governance

is not about making sweet promises

with sugar-quoted words, but the

ability to deliver is what is important.

Mr Speaker, lawlessness is the

order of the day. If those who are at

the helm of affairs are disrespecting

the laws of this country, what do we

expect from the people in my

constituency? Mr Speaker, the

Budget Statement, on page 187,

indicated clearly that the revised

appropriation is about GH₵145 billion, and on the same page, they

are telling us that by the end of the

year, the projected expenditure would

be GH₵153 billion. Expenditure in

excess of appropriation is a criminal

offence under section 96 of the Public

Financial Management Act, 2016

(Act 921). If I have a Budget

Statement before me that tells me that

a crime would be committed at the

end of the year, does the Minster for

Finance expect me to approve it for

him? The laws are made to be

respected, and those who are placed

at the helm of affairs must respect the

laws of the land.

Mr Speaker, recklessness, display

of incompetence, and mismanage-

ment are the order of the day.

Ghana's debt from the era of Dr Kwame Nkrumah to 2016, the regime

of former President Mahama, was

GH₵123 billion. However, today, as a result of recklessness, incompetence,

and mismanagement of the economy,

Ghana's debt is now about GH₵500 billion. In six years, the Minister for

Finance has added GH₵387 billion to Ghana's debt, and clearly, this is as a result of recklessness, incompetence,

and mismanagement of the economy.

Others are of the view that

because Data Bank, which is owned

by the Minister for Finance, is a

transaction adviser to most of the

loans contracted by the State, the Hon

Minister for Finance takes delight in

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

borrowing. Mr Speaker, as a result,

Ghana's debt, by his own Budget Statement, is unsustainable.

Mr Speaker, inflation was 14 to

15 per cent in 2016. Now, it is 40.4

per cent, and it is being projected that

by the end of the year, Ghana's inflation would hit 50 per cent, and

the Hon Minister is talking about debt

restructuring, giving haircuts and

zero interests to bond holders.

Ghanaians have paid a levy

towards the National Health

Insurance Act, 2012 (Act 852),

therefore, the National Health

Insurance Levy (NHIL) is by law.

The law is clear that after collection,

the Hon Minister for Finance must

pay the money to the National Health

Insurance Fund (NHIF) within 30

days. Why has he paid the NHIF less

than 10 per cent of moneys collected?

On the same NHIF, the Hon Minister

projected a revenue of GH₵4,644,363.90 for the year 2023.

However, when we go to the

expenditure item on page 191 of the

Budget Statement, the Hon Minister

projects to give them about GH₵2.5 billion. What happens to the rest of

the money? Even when he applies

capping, what should go to the NHIF

should be more than that. If he adds

the Social Security and National

Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contri-

bution to it, it means that the total

projected revenue is about GH₵5.28 billion, and the Hon Minister is going

to give them GH₵2.5 billion, which is less than 50 per cent of it. The Hon

Minister should tell us what he would

use the rest of the money for.

Mr Speaker, the Ghana Education

Trust Fund (GETFund) Levy is

established by law to support the

delivery of quality education to

Ghanaians from basic schools to

tertiary level, ensuring equitable

provision of essential resources for

all levels of education to all segments

of Ghanaians. The 2.5 per cent VAT,

which is the GETFund Levy, is

supposed to be paid to GETFund.

The Hon Minister for Finance projects a total revenue from the levy in the sum of GH₵4,644,363.09. However, when we go to the expenditure item and compare pages 190 and 191of the Budget Statement, which has the revenue and expenditure respectively, the Hon Minister proposes to give to GETFund only GH₵1.8 billion out of almost GH₵5

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

billion. What would he do with the rest of the money? Does he want GETFund to collapse? Is education not important in this country for all moneys collected to be given to GETFund?

The last person who spoke from the other Side boasted of payments of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). I would like to place on record, the outstanding balance as at the second quarter from the Ministry of Finance to the DACF. The total amount is GH₵4,874,567,950.74 and the details are as follows: in the year as far back as 2018, the amount owed was GH₵361,529,207.49; in 2019, GH₵634,622,875.73; in 2020, GH₵636,067,032.68; in 2021, GH₵1,921,544,374.40; and in 2022, GH₵1,138,834.00. These amount to a total of about GH₵4.9 billion. Where from the statement that the first and second quarters have been paid, if they are owing the DACF right from 2018?

Mr Speaker, there was a huge issue about the calculation of the total revenue as per article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, as a result of which two MPs, at that material moment, one of whom is here, went as far back to the Supreme Court which has given an interpretation and delivered a very

beautiful judgement. Why is the Minister for Finance not respecting the constitutional provision as well as the judgement emanating from the Supreme Court of Ghana? Is that not as a result of lawlessness, reckless- ness, and incompetence?

Mr Speaker, our economy is in

tatters, and governance in this

country is in a mess. I believe

strongly that it is about time

Ghanaians realised that governance

under the current Administration is in

a mess; the earlier the better.

Mr Speaker, I thank you for

giving me the opportunity.

Mr Alexander Kwamena

Afenyo-Markin (NPP - Effutu): Mr Speaker, thank you for the

opportunity to add my voice to the

debate. I shall rely on these veritable

words by the Hon Minister for

Finance contained in paragraph 369

on page 86 of the Budget Statement

to anchor all that I want to say. It

says, and I quote:

“Mr Speaker, even amidst the current difficulties, Ghana remains

committed to implementing

social protection programmes

and safeguarding social expendi-

tures. Government will not

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

renege on its responsibilities

towards the vulnerable.”

Mr Speaker, these are the

reassuring words of the Government

to the people of Ghana, but I concede

that we are in a political competition;

it is clear that we have the NDC and

the NPP. I have no problem at all. Our

Hon Friends in the NDC are

criticising the governance we are

experiencing now, but the question

that must be asked is, “What is the track record of our Friends”? Ghana is coming from the year 2016 all the

way to the year 2022. Ghana is

coming from the year 2009 all the

way to the year 2016.

Mr Speaker, the very gentlemen

who are criticising us today were the

very gentlemen who ruled this

country eight years before we took

over. [Interruption]—They are not democrats, and they would not like to

listen. We assumed office with an

ambition to transform the economy.

Mr Speaker, let me refer them to

industry records on page 23 of the

Budget Statement - Table 8. This is what the record has to say, Industry:

2014 - 1.1 per cent growth; 2015 - 1.2 per cent growth; 2016 - 4.3 per cent growth; 2017 - 15.6 per cent; 2018 - 10.5 per cent; and 2019 - 6.4 per cent.

Mr Speaker, clearly, as Mr

Haruna Iddrisu himself said, which

language reflects in the records of

this House, that he is not concerned

about the 2017, 2018, and 2019

records of the Hon Minister for

Finance. These were the words of my

respected Friend, Mr Haruna Iddrisu,

on the day he moved his Motion of

Censure - that he is not concerned about the records of 2017, 2018, and

2019 of the Hon Minister for Finance.

Why was he not concerned?

Mr Speaker, in 2014, when the

world economy was not experiencing

any catastrophe, President John

Dramani Mahama told us that times

were hard and that he was unable to

implement Free SHS, pay teacher

trainee and nurses' trainee allowances. In fact, he was very

emphatic that he was unable to

provide any relief in electricity

tariffs; these were the words of

President Mahama to the people of

Ghana. What did we say in

opposition? We said if we got the

opportunity, we would introduce

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

some reliefs that the Ghanaian people

would benefit from. Did we renege

on that promise? No!

Mr Speaker, when we came into

office, the records would bear me out

that in the years 2017 and 2018, this

Government did not introduce any

tax; they should check. Rather, we

reduced some taxes, percentages

were reduced and some were

completely abolished; we did it.

While doing this, we introduced the

Free SHS, restored the nurses trainee

and teacher trainee allowances, and

reduced electricity tariffs; the very

thing — We reduced for households —

Mr James Klutse Avedzi — rose —

Mr Speaker, I
am ready to resume my seat for the
Hon Deputy Minority Leader to get
up on a proper point of order, not that
intimidatory type of thing. Mr
Speaker, we were —

Kindly hold on. Yes, Hon Deputy
Minority Leader.

Mr Speaker, the
Hon Deputy Majority Leader said
that he is prepared to resume his seat
for me.

He
has resumed his seat. Kindly address
me now.

I do not know why
he said that because I just made a
point that he said they introduced
Free SHS and reduced taxes, and I
said, well, if they took investors' money to do that, they would fall into
a ditch, like today where they would
be announcing funeral for the
investors. They took investors' moneys; they did not properly invest
it —

Hon
Deputy Minority Leader, are you on
a point of order or you are debating?

Well, he said he
would resume his seat for me to
continue.

You
are out of order. Hon Deputy
Majority Leader, please proceed.

Mr
Speaker, the metaphor here is very clear - it is part of the bona fides of a government to provide social

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

intervention programmes and that we did - that which they said we could not do.

It was worse yesterday when

Ghanaians could not pay electricity tariffs, when Ghanaian parents could not afford secondary education, and their children were sitting at home. It was worse yesterday when nurses trainees were going back home because they could not afford anything.

Mr Speaker, in the year 2013,

Ghanaians were very hopeful that our coastal belt was going to see some infrastructure that would help our fisherfolks. They were saddened when in the year 2014, Mr Seth Terkper appeared before the Finance Committee of this House, and announced a capping which completely took away the Landing Beach Project. This was when we had procured a China Development Bank (CDB) loan, and that loan had a punitive clause, which punitive clause meant that if we failed to draw down, we were going to pay charges.

At the time the Hon Minister

for Finance came to us, Ghana had paid over US$150 million, nearly because we had not put in place the measures to disburse. Is this not part of the debts? They paid somebody

who was giving them a loan. Let me break it down: the Chinese Government was giving them a loan and a condition precedent was in there that if they put in place measures to draw down early, they would not pay any penalty, but if they failed, they would pay. They continued paying penalty upon penalty moneys that they could have been used to construct the Tsiame- Abor road, and provide water for the people of Tsiame. These were moneys that, otherwise, could have been used to get water for the people of Bole/Bamboi who needed it. They paid it free of charge to the Chinese because they had failed to draw down. That is the record we are talking about; that is the record of the

NDC.

Mr Speaker, nothing has

changed from their stock; their

appointor is the one they are going to

rely on to be their flagbearer. The

appointees who could not do

anything are the same people who are

eagerly waiting to get the opportunity

to govern again. Is there anything

new from them as an NDC party?

Have they put in place any

alternative? We concede that the

challenges of Covid-19 and the

Russia-Ukraine war has thrown the

world economy into recession.

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

Mr Speaker, I expect my Hon

Colleagues to enjoy a healthy debate. Silence and tolerance are important, and I am happy the Rt Hon Speaker would not mark the time against me while they make the noise. It is a fact that the world economy is in recession - nobody here can deny that fact. Why is the world economy in recession? It is because of the instability in the flow of trade; Ghana is not isolated.

The very investors who were

bringing their funds in 2017, 2018, and 2019 are no more bringing their funds in. Why? It is not because of mismanagement, but because their own backyard is on fire. The Hon Members on the other Side know that as a fact — [Hear! Hear!] —

In all of this, the people of Ghana

have benefited from the sincerity of the Akufo-Addo Government with respect to the promise to alleviate poverty among our fisherfolks. What did we do? Mr Speaker, today, I can say on authority that every single landing beach project is ongoing. [Hear! Hear!].

Mr Speaker, the NDC Government

promised us landing beaches. They

could not initiate one. They rather abandoned the project and said it was no more a priority project, but immediately H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo came, he initiated the landing beach project. [Hear! Hear!] —. As we speak, not less than 12 landing beach projects are ongoing across the length and breadth of our coast.— [Hear! Hear!]—. We know that as a fact.

Mr Speaker, they talk about debt.

My respected Hon Colleague, Mr

Bernard Ahiafor, argued with some

figures, and I would respond to them

figures. These were his words that we

inherited the US$123 billion debt. — [Interruption] — No, do not worry. “We inherited”, so that is what it means, even from Guggisberg, the

US$123 billion debt. What he failed

to say was that they inherited US$9.5

billion debt from the former President

Mr John Agyekum Kuffour, and in

percentage terms, at the time the

NDC was leaving office, it was over

1200 per cent.

If I challenge them to point to me

a single social intervention

programme their party and Govern-

ment initiated and implemented

successfully, they would have none.

— [Interruption]. I challenge the NDC stock in this House to tell us a

Government's Financial Policy, 2023

single social intervention programme

they initiated and implemented

successfully.

Mr Speaker, we concede that

although we are in difficult times, and

even former President John Dramani

Mahama himself says that they

should support the Government — when he went to Ho recently, he

conceded, and for that I respect him.

He did not sound partisan. He did say

to the people of Ho that “we are in difficult times; all of you should

support the govern-ment”.

This is what he said, but in the

midst of these challenges, public

servants are being paid; Government

is not in arrears regarding salaries and

emoluments; Parliamentary Service

staff are being paid; Mr Speaker and

his Deputies, the 275 Hon Members,

civil servants, and the security

services are receiving their salaries.

All government workers are being

paid. There are no single arrears.

Nobody in the Chamber can tell me

that Government has failed in the

midst of this crisis to pay salaries. — [Interruption]— I am saying that Government is living up to its bona

fide. [Hear! Hear!]. Mr Speaker, we

concede that we have challenges and

when it comes to Free SHS —