Debates of 6 Jun 2023

Hon Members, I have received from the Electoral
Commission, the Writ of Election on the Kumawu by-election held on Tuesday,
23rd May, 2023, and I shall proceed to read the communication. It is dated 29th
May, 2023. It reads:

Communication from the Electoral Commission

Communication from the Electoral Commission

Communication from the Electoral Commission

Then behind, we have “Certificate to be endorsed on Writ”. I read the certificate.

Communication from the Electoral Commission

Hon Members, Standing
Order 14(1) stipulates that:
Every Member shall, before taking
his seat formally in Parliament, take
and subscribe before the Speaker, in
the House and in the presence of
other Members of Parliament, the
Oath of Allegiance and the Oath of
a Member of Parliament as set out in
Appendix C (1) and (3) to these
Standing Orders.
Hon Members, furthermore, Order
14(2) states that:
A Member may, instead of taking
the Oath, make and subscribe to a
solemn affirmation in the form
presented in Appendix C (1) and (3)
to these Standing Orders.
Hon Members, I shall invite the Hon
Member-elect for the Kumawu
Constituency to proceed to the Speaker's dais to be sworn into office. [Hear!

I shall proceed to
administer the Oath but I would want to
know from the Hon Member-elect
whether he wants to use the Holy Bible
or the Cross.
Hon Member-elect for Kumawu
(Mr Ernest Yaw Anim): Mr Speaker, I
would use the Holy Bible.

Hon Member,
congratulations.

You are now duly sworn
in as the Hon Member of Parliament for
the Kumawu Constituency [Hear!
Hear!]. These are the tools you would
take to your farm. As you enter, I would
be observing you to see whether you
have your hoe and cutlass. This one is
what would determine your harvest in
this House. I pray and hope that you
follow it faithfully.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, I
will do same.

May the Hon Majority
Chief Whip proceed to conduct the Hon
Member to his seat.

Hon Members, may I now
invite the Hon Majority and Minority
Leaders to congratulate the Hon Member on
his election, and to welcome him to this

august House. We would start with that

of the Hon Minority Leader.

Minority Leader (Dr Cassiel Ato

Baah Forson): Mr Speaker, first, I

would like to also use this opportunity to

congratulate the new Hon Member of

Parliament for the good people of Kumawu

on his election to the Parliament of Ghana. I

say this because the former Hon Member

of Parliament, Mr Philip Basoah, was,

indeed, a good friend to most of us. He

actually worked in such a way that he cut

across the divide of the House and

exhibited competence in his work. It is

our hope that our new Hon Colleague,

who has just joined us today, will learn

from the good example of our departed

Hon Colleague, Mr Basoah, who,

unfortunately, passed on in the First

Meeting of the Third Session of this

Parliament.

Mr Speaker, again, it is my hope that

our Hon Colleague will quickly settle

down as a Member of Parliament for the

people of Kumawu, and then, obviously,

perform the task that he has to perform

according to the Constitution of the

Republic of Ghana.

Mr Speaker, to conclude, I wish him

well, and I congratulate him, once again,

for winning the heavily-contested by-

election that was recently conducted.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Yes, Hon Majority
Leader?
Majority Leader (Mr Osei Kyei-
Mensah-Bonsu): Mr Speaker, I thank
you for the opportunity to also add my voice to congratulate the Hon Member for Kumawu, Mr Ernest Yaw Anim, for the victory that he chalked at the Kumawu by-election. I must congratulate him for the demeanour and posturing that he exhibited, and at Kumawu, he was described as a unifier. I want to believe that post his election, he would continue on that path of trying to unite the entirety of the constituency, regardless of the political persuasion of the individuals there.
Mr Speaker, the contest and by-
election at Kumawu was, generally, clean and devoid of the usual acrimony associated with by-elections. The people of Kumawu must be congratulated for exhibiting true patriotism, and one hopes that the upcoming by-election in the Assin North Constituency will be conducted on the same path generally.
Mr Speaker, the responsibilities of a
Member of Parliament are well cut out. The representation function of an Hon Member; the debates that we have in this Chamber; information dissemination; and legislation. Not too many Hon Members are interested in, arguably, the greatest function of a Member of Parliament, which is legislation. There is the financial control that we do here, and oversight responsibility. Mr Speaker, these are the core functions of Members of Parliament and it is good that at his baptism, you have given him copies of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, which are our rules of procedure.
Mr Speaker, just as you did, I want to
also urge him that within the limited time that he has — he has barely one and a half

years to be in this House for the conduct

of another election, which is the main

election, slated for December, 2024. Within this limited time, he is required to

distinguish himself, so that his people

will see the goodness in him and vote again for him in the upcoming election.

Mr Speaker, I can only wish him well.

I see in him tremendous potential and I believe he will rise to the occasion. I

thank you for the opportunity and once again, I welcome him.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for

the space accorded.

Well, Hon Member for
Kumawu, you are the newest and freshest Hon Member in this House. First
impression, as you know, is very lasting. I am very observant, so wherever you
want to hide yourself, I will see you — [Laughter]. That first impression is
important and that is what will lead you through the next election. I wish you well
and may the good Lord continue to bless you.
Hon Members, I have about eight
messages from His Excellency the

Hon Members, before I proceed to the messages from the President, my

attention has just been drawn to the fact that the Hon Member of Parliament that

has just been sworn in was led and continued to the House by some of our

revered, illustrious and well-respected chiefs in the country. They are led by the

Paramount Chief of the Kumawu Traditional Council, His Majesty Barima

Sarfo Tweneboa Kodua — [Hear! Hear!] I recognise him at the

distinguished persons gallery. Please, you are most welcome. We also have the

Kumawu Worasohene, Akyemfour Adu

Acheampong; Kumawu Nseniehene, Nana Obeng Darko Acheampong; and

the Chief Linguist, Okyeame Owusu Bempah Koduah — [Hear! Hear!] —

Hon Members, on your behalf, I want

to warmly welcome them to the House.

This is your House; at any time, you are

welcome, and also to thank you for

bringing up a young man who has been

able to go through the struggle of a

competition of a nature that I am very

used to and has made it to the House. We

pray and hope that you would continue to

support him to succeed. This struggle is

not for one man; it is for all of us, so,

please, kindly continue with the

guidance, counselling, and all the

facilitation to make him succeed in

assisting you to develop the

constituency.

Thank you so much for coming.

I would plead with Hon Members that

in view of the agenda before us, I would

call on the Department of Official

Report, usually referred to as the

Hansard Department, to capture the

contents of the eight communications

which have been pending since we were

on recess, but just to read the last one

dated 26th May, 2023.

Hon Msembers, I would
now proceed to invite the Hon Leaders
first - I think that should be the order - to welcome you before I give my formal
welcome to all of you from the recess.
We would start with the Hon Minority
Leader's Welcome Remarks, then the Hon Majority Leader's Welcome Remarks before I deliver mine. Please,
you may go on.

Hon Members, let me
say that the urgent recall of the House to
the one-day Sitting is a Sitting. I am sure
the new, revised Standing Orders would
take note of the definition of Meeting and
Sitting in the Constitution and go
accordingly.
Hon Members, I welcome you all to
the Second Meeting of the Third Session
of the Eighth Parliament of the Fourth
Republic. The recess has been long and
very eventful. I believe it offered you
enough time and space to interact with
your constituents. It also provided some
of you, particularly, the Members of the
Minority, an opportunity to account to
the sovereign people of Ghana resident in
your constituencies for your stewardship
as their elected and legitimate
representatives in government. You
further sought an extension of your
mandate from your party delegates at the
primaries. Let me, on behalf of
Parliament, congratulate the Hon
Members who were able to make it
through the constituency primaries. I
have been in those shoes many times and
I know how difficult the primaries can
be, particularly, for Hon Members from
constituencies considered strongholds of
the party.

To those who were not successful at

securing an extension or renewal of the

mandate from your constituents to

represent them in the 2024 elections, I

still congratulate you for the healthy

competition you offered and the

humility, maturity, grace and dignity

exhibited in accepting defeat and

committing to support the lucky ones. I

assure you that the outcome of the

primaries is not the end of your political

life, no matter how unfavourable you

might consider it to be. I am a firm

believer in what Bob Marley, the revered

Jamaican musician, said: “When one door is closed, many more are opened”.

Hon Members, there are so many ways

of serving humanity and Ghana, and

Parliament is just one of them. You may

also take a cue from Alhaji Collins

Dauda, Mr Cletus Avoka and others who

Welcome Address

have mustered the art of staging very

impressive comebacks to lead and serve

their constituents. We shall return. For

now, it is very important that you remain

honourable and patriotic, and continue to

commit yourselves to the oath which you

swore to your constituents and the good

people of Ghana, and live by it. You still

have in excess of one-and-a-half years to

serve as Members of Parliament (MP).

Do not allow the outcome of the

primaries to detract you from your focus

as an Hon Member of this honourable

House.

Hon Members, during the recess, I led

a parliamentary delegation to pay a

working visit to Westminster in London,

where we had various meetings with

Members of the British Parliament from

both the House of Commons and the

House of Lords. The meetings were very

fruitful and insightful. We shared many

perspectives on various issues as well as

some best practices. There was a lot of

interest in Ghana by Members of both

Houses. As a result, there were many

other side meetings that were requested

in addition to the main programme for

our visit. All the meetings turned out

very well, and there are a number of

things we learnt that we will be putting

in place in this House.

I was also privileged to deliver the

keynote address at the opening ceremony

of the 2023 First Ordinary Session of the

Parliament of Benin, and the swearing in

of the Rt Hon Louis Gbèhounou

Vlavonou as Speaker of the Ninth

Parliament of Benin. The delegation I led

held private discussions with the

Speaker, who was as passionate as we

were to further deepen the bond of

friendship between the Parliaments of

the two countries. Those of you who are

old enough would recall the football

matches we used to play as Parliament of

Ghana with the Parliament of Benin. We

intend to, at least, create the opportunity

for some of you to participate in those

football matches.

Additionally, I attended an urgent call

of my colleague and friend, the Rt Hon

Olufemi Hakeem Gbajabiamila, the

Speaker of the House of Representatives

of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to

assume the interim position of the

Speaker of the Conference of Speakers

and Heads of African Parliaments

(CoSAP), and the African Speakers' Debt Cancellation Campaign Initiative.

We discussed a number of issues,

including how to sustain parliamentary

democracy in Africa and make the

incidence of frequent military takeovers

a thing of history.

With your support, I believe I would

be able to provide the right guidance to

add value and to advance further the

objectives of CoSAP, particularly to

achieve debt cancellation for African

countries during my tenure as the

president.

The Supreme Court, as we all recall,

has delivered a ruling in the case

involving our former Colleague. Hon

Members, the Supreme Court has

ordered Parliament — I repeat, the Supreme Court has ordered Parliament

to expunge the name of Mr James

Gyakye Quayson as Member of

Parliament for the Assin North

Welcome Address

Constituency after declaring his election

unconstitutional, and consequently, the

swearing-in of the Hon Member as

unconstitutional, null and void, and of no

effect.

According to the Court, the processes

leading to his election were in violation

of article 94(2)(a) of the 1992

Constitution. It held that at the time Mr

Quayson filed his nomination to contest

for the seat, he had not renounced his

Canadian citizenship, and thus, owed

allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

The court faulted the Electoral

Commission (EC) for permitting him to

contest the election. Parliament has,

therefore, been ordered to expunge the

name of Mr James Gyakye Quayson as

MP for Assin North Constituency.

The judgement was served on

Parliament through me and on your

behalf, I directed the Clerk to Parliament

to notify, in accordance with the

Constitution, the EC of the occurrence of

the vacancy in the Assin North

Constituency. The Clerk has since then

notified the EC to take the appropriate

consequential action as required by law.

The rest is well known to all of you, and

I need not bore you with it.

Hon Members, Parliament will

have to dispassionately consider the next

course of action; that is, how to comply

with the order of the Supreme Court “to expunge the name of James Gyakye

Quayson as a Member of Parliament for

Assin North Constituency”. The House is to decide on the procedure to do so, not

the Speaker. I count on your good

judgement in this matter. I am, however,

enjoined by the Standing Orders of

Parliament to make provision as I deem

fit since no procedure has been laid down

by any rules of practice of the House to

comply with this new development of an

order on a declaratory judgement.

This is the first time Parliament has

been ordered to do such a thing, even

though we have had similar cases before.

This is the first time, and our rules do not

have any procedure laid out on how it

should be done by Parliament.

You have been told about the outcome

of the Kumawu by-elections and I do not

need to go through it again. Hon

Members, let me emphasise what the

Hon Majority Leader has stated. It is just

a reminder that the Second Meeting

promises to be an activity-packed one.

Before we went on recess, I informed

you of a number of activities planned for

the 30th Anniversary celebration of the

Parliament of the Fourth Republic,

which will commence during this

Meeting.

You will all recall that I mentioned

that the Planning Committee is chaired

by the Hon Member for Abuakwa South

Constituency, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea.

Where is he? He has suddenly

disappeared.

This is a year-long celebration, and it

involves a number of activities such as

lectures, round-table discussions, games,

public symposiums and fora across the

country. I have been informed by the

Planning Committee that the celebrations

Welcome Address

will commence on Thursday, 15th June,

2023, with a mock parliament and debate

in Wa, the Upper West Regional capital.

This would be followed by a public

forum in Tamale on Friday, 16th June,

2023. On Saturday, 17th June, 2023, a

peace walk and fun games involving

sitting and former Members of

Parliament, and Metropolitan, Municipal

and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs)

in the Upper East Region will take place

at Bolgatanga. Hon Members are

enjoined to participate fully in these

activities. I will deliver the keynote

address in Tamale at the public forum.

I accordingly direct that the Clerk to

Parliament should share the details of the

entire programme with all Hon Members

of Parliament and staff of the

Parliamentary Service. Please, your

participation is key to the success of the

celebration.

Hon Members, we also have to plan — and we are in the course of doing that — to host the 66th Commonwealth

Parliamentary Association (CPA)

Conference here in Ghana. The CPA

Conference is scheduled to take place

from 30th September to 6th October,

2023. I do not want to hear from any Hon

Member later on that he was not aware

of this programme.

In addition to the above, it is better for

me to emphasise for the attention of Hon

Members that by the nature of these

events, Members are required to be

actively involved. It should not just be a

few committed Hon Members. I mean all

Hon Members are required to be

involved. We will move after Bolgatanga

to either Sekondi-Takoradi, Ho or

Kumasi. However, whatever the

situation is, we will end up in Accra. So,

please, we expect all Hon Members to

participate in these activities.

As a result of that, I direct the Planning

Committee — in fact, I want to urge them to invite the National Commission

on Civic Education (NCCE), members of

the media, particularly, the

Parliamentary Press Corps, and the civil

society organisations that are in active

partnership with Parliament to be part of

the communication team of the Planning

Committee to help promote these events

and, by extension, sustain parliamentary

democracy and the image and reputation

of Ghana's Parliament.

It is an opportunity for us to reach out

to our people to explain the concept and

practice of multi-party democracy,

especially the option that Ghana has

chosen for itself. I hear people

comparing democratic practice from

country to country. They are not the

same. There are different options.

Therefore, the route to heaven is not just

one. There are many routes. It is

important that we use this opportunity to

let people understand what we are doing

in government and what system we are

trying to practise in the country.

In addition to the above, this Meeting,

we will consider 69 Bills which are at

various stages: five of them are Private

Members' Bills. We have 56 Instruments for presentation, 165 Papers to be laid,

and 16 Public Motions.

Welcome Address

I think I have to mention the Revised

Standing Orders, which is of utmost

importance. We intend to bring it to the

House either this week or next week for

your action.

Hon Members, let me conclude by

warmly welcoming you again. I pray that

this time around, we will improve on our

conduct and behaviour not only on the

floor of Parliament, but also outside the

precincts of Parliament. With this, you

Hon Members, with your kind

permission, may I extend the Sitting

beyond the normal Sitting hours in view

of the nature of the Business before us.

Votes and Proceedings and the

Official Report

Hon Members, we will
now take item number 5 — Correction of Votes and Proceedings and the Official
Report, and I hope that would be
expeditiously dealt with. I start with the
Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday, 2nd
May, 2023.
Page 1…9?

Thank
you, Mr Speaker. On page 9, item
number 5, “The Clerk to Parliament, Mr Cyril Kwabena Oteng Nisah…” It should be “Nsiah” instead of “Nisah”. Also, the item numbered 6, “Her Ladyship Justice Gertrude Araba Esaba
Sackey Torkornoo…” It should be “Esaaba”, not “Esaba”. It is “E-s-a-a-b- a”, and not “E-s-a-b-a”.

Hon Member, thank you
so much. Clerks-at-the-Table, please
take note of the spellings of the two
names: “Nsiah” and “Esaaba”.
Page 10?

Mr Speaker,
the last but one line of the item numbered
6 on page 9 — “His Lordship, Justice Anin Yeboah”, the “Anin Yeboah” should be hyphenated. It should be
“Anin-Yeboah”.

Yes, Clerks-at-the-
Table, kindly take note.
Page 10...14?

Mr Speaker,
the last line of the first paragraph on page
13, “Development Bank of Ghana” should be “Development Bank, Ghana”. There is no preposition. So, the word
“of” should be deleted.

Clerks-at-the-Table,
delete the word “of” between “Bank” and “Ghana” —

Mr Speaker, also on
page 14, the same observation is
identified. In the last line of the first
paragraph, the word “of” must be cancelled. Then, under “THIS

Clerks-at-the-Table, all
consequential amendments should be
carried out.
Page 13...33?
Hon Members, in the absence of any
further corrections, the Votes and
Proceedings of the Emergency Sitting dated
Tuesday, 2nd May, 2023, is hereby adopted
as the true record of proceedings.
We would now move to the item
numbered 6 — Business of the House.
Yes, Hon Chairman of the Business
Committee?

Very well.
Hon Member for North Tongu?
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
(NDC — North Tongu): Mr Speaker, I commend the Hon Majority Leader for
the presentation of the Business
Statement.
Mr Speaker, the first concern relates to
Questions. I note that the Hon Majority
Leader raises concerns about the
exigencies of time, but there are some
Questions that are urgent in nature, and I
would like to appeal to the Hon Majority
Leader and for that matter the Business
Committee to consider the Questions
that are urgent, so that they can put them
ahead of the pack, so Hon Ministers can
be duly arranged to appear before the
House.

Business of the House

Mr Speaker, at the item numbered 4,

as regards the proposed meeting on the

GETFund Formula, we have an

indication of the day which is tomorrow,

but the Committee did not indicate if it is

right after adjournment or is there a

specific time for that meeting, so that

Hon Members could be well informed.

Mr Speaker, as regards the briefing by

the Hon Minister for Communications

and Digitalisation, I would like to

commend the Committee. That is a

matter of public interest which is really

timely. However, there is another matter

which I thought would also feature. It

relates to the International Monetary

Fund (IMF) Programme. I was expecting

that that would be the second matter that

would be tabled, so that the Hon Minister

for Finance would apprise the House and

give us a thorough briefing of what has

been agreed with the IMF, so I would

like to appeal to the Hon Majority Leader

to create some space for the Hon

Minister for Finance, just as they have

done for the Hon Minister for

Communications and Digitalisation, so

that the Hon Minister for Finance can

also come and brief the House.

Mr Speaker, I conclude with a

correction at page 4. At the item

numbered (k), the full meaning of

“COTVET” should be “Council for

Technical and Vocational Education and

Training”, and not “Council for

Technical and Vocation Education”.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Samuel Nartey George (NDC —

Ningo Prampram): Thank you very

much, Mr Speaker.

I would like to commend the Business

Committee and the Chairman of the

Committee, the Hon Majority Leader,

for the Business Statement that was

made. With reference to the invitation for

the Hon Minister for Communications

and Digitalisation, it is captured in the

summary but at page 3 which has the

breakdown of activities for Thursday, 8th

June, 2023, it is missing conspicuously

there, but I would like to say that it is a

right step, and in fact we should have had

this briefing today if possible. This is

because we are talking about eight

million Subscriber Identity Module

(SIM) cards that have been disconnected,

including even the SIM card of the Rt

Hon Speaker of Parliament, not his

Deputy. The official SIM card of the

Speaker himself was disconnected even

though it was registered in the name of

the Parliament of Ghana. We have

judges, lawyers, doctors and Members of

Parliament (MP) whose SIM cards have

been disconnected. Even me, my SIM

card has been disconnected. Our SIM

cards were disconnected but the — [Dr

Matthew Opoku Prempeh: Who are

you?] I am the Hon Member of

Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, and the

elected Parliamentary Candidate for the

National Democratic Congress (NDC)

again. [Hear! Hear!] —

— and the
leader of the “Stubborn Academy”. Is
that right?

Business of the House

Mr Speaker, the dean of
the “Stubborn Academy”. The “Stubborn
Academy” is insisting that the National
Identification Authority (NIA) must
provide us Ghana Cards, because it is
important the Hon Minister briefs this
House even if possible, today, because
people's livelihoods have been affected,
and people's Momo, money they used for
their transactions, have been stuck on
their SIMs.
Mr Speaker, it is important that this
House takes into consideration that the
NIA has failed to issue any Ghanaian
citizen a Ghana Card in any district NIA
office since December 2022, so it is not
the fault of the “Stubborn Academy” that
we have not been able to register our
SIM cards. It is not the fault of any
Ghanaian that they have not been able to
register SIM cards. The NIA must also
appear here alongside the Hon Minister
for us to resolve the matter.
I thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Yes, Hon
Member for Bole, Bamboi?
Mr Yusif Sulemana (NDC — Bole/
Bamboi): Mr Speaker, thank you for the
opportunity. I would like to thank the
Business Committee for this Statement. I
am happy that they have admitted that
in this Meeting we would have a lot of
work to do, so we should all brace up for
the task ahead of us. They stated that we
have about 711 Questions to be
answered; 700 Oral Questions and 11
Urgent Questions. The question I would
like to ask is whether these Questions are
new ones or they are Questions that were
filed long ago. I have about six Questions
addressed to the Ministry of Trade and
Industry when the then Minister was in
charge. I made several follow-ups to
ensure that he was here to answer the
Questions, but I never got any feedback.
There was then an acting Minister. I
followed up, yet there was no response.
We have a current Minister. One would
have thought that some of these
Questions would have found space in
this Business Statement —

Hon
Member, hold on. The Rt Hon Speaker to
take the Chair.
2.44 p.m. —

Mr Speaker, thank
you. I am just making an appeal that
given the volume of work we have in this
particular Meeting, one would have
thought that some Questions would be
part of these activities. For instance, the
Hon Minister for Trade is here, and I
have a lot of Questions addressed to him.
If the Committee could confirm with him
so that some of those Questions would be
answered in this particular week.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Yes, Hon Majority
Leader, you can respond to the issues
raised.

Business of the House

Mr Speaker,
the Hon Member for North Tongu, Mr
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is
requesting that we prioritise the Urgent
Questions and have them answered as
soon as practicable. I think that is what
we usually do, and we conform to that.
Mr Speaker, the proposed Committee
of the Whole meeting requires the
Administrator of the Ghana Education
Trust Fund (GETFund) and the Hon
Minister for Finance to sit to do some
reconciliation before the meeting could
come off. So, I hope that they would sort
it out. I have indicated to the Hon
Minister for Finance that I would be
meeting him this evening so that we try
to clear whatever obstacles there are, and
when we are through with that, we can
have it tomorrow — anytime. Maybe, upon adjournment, or if it becomes
necessary to even break into the Sitting
and have a meeting of the Committee of
the Whole, we would do that.
Mr Speaker, the Hon Minister for
Communications and Digitalisation is
here, and the Hon Member for Ningo-
Prampram, Mr Samuel Nartey George,
was insistent that she should come and
answer the Question today. He raised the
issue, but he has left the Chamber as if he
is not concerned about his own request.
However, the Business Committee met
this morning, and we had to have some
engagement with the Hon Minister for
Communications and Digitalisation in
order that she would come to respond to
this. We cannot just drag her to the
Chamber and ask her to come and brief
us. This is because there may be some
technical issues that she may have to
bounce off her technical officers before
coming, which is why we decided to
programme her for Thursday, 8th June,
2023. We have had some discussions
with her, and Thursday is agreeable, so
the Hon Minister will be here with us.
Mr Speaker, I think another Hon
Member raised an issue in respect of the
Hon Minister for Finance coming to
apprise the House of the agreements with
the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
thus far. It is legitimate, but I think the
Hon Minister is programmed to respond
to some Questions relating to same
subject matter. So, we would see; if there
is still space to accommodate that, we
would see what to do. In any event, I
believe that the Mid-Year Review would
strongly be flavoured by the IMF
programme and the deliberations that
went into that.
Mr Speaker, I think the last person
raised issues related to the number of
Questions that we have — over 700, that is, 711. By necessary implication, when
I said that those of them that are on board
now may increase the number, should
suggest to him that these are sacksful of
Questions that are outstanding, which we
have brought to this Meeting. So, we
have to touch base with the various Hon
Ministers and Ministries to ensure that
the Questions are not unnecessarily
delayed. What it means, with the number
of Questions that we have, is that on a
daily basis, Hon Ministers appearing
may have to respond to so many
Questions, and that then would mean that
in order not to unnecessarily impact

Business of the House

negatively on Public Business, we may

have to probably curtail the time of

asking Questions, not as in slashing the

one-hour assigned time. I am talking

about supplementary questions. Perhaps,

in respect of constituency-specific

Questions, we may have to limit the

Questions to Hon Members who would

just ask those Questions and move on, so

that the many outstanding Questions

could be responded to adequately.

Mr Speaker, I thank you.

Hon Members, after the
response given by the Hon Majority
Leader, take it that the Business
Statement as presented, is adopted.
Hon Members, I am guided by
Leadership that we are not taking
Statements today. We will, therefore
proceed to Public Business and take the
item numbered 8 - Presentation of Papers. We will start with the item
8(a)(i).
Hon Members, with your kind
permission, let me just add (ii), (iii), (iv),
(v), and (vi). Then I can proceed to make
the referrals.

Hon Members, items
numbered (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), and (v) are
referred to the Public Accounts
Committee. It is only (vi) that is referred
to the subject matter Committee, which
is the Committee on Food, Agriculture
and Cocoa Affairs. Is that the case?
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu — rose —

Yes, Hon Majority
Leader?

Mr
Speaker, these are Annual Reports, and
they go to the subject matter — Select
Committees. So, the item numbered (i)
will go to the Committee on Mines and

Papers

Energy, the item numbered (ii) will go to

the Committee on Mines and Energy and

the leadership of the Finance Committee,

the items numbered (iii) and (iv) will go

to the Committee on Education, and the

items numbered (v) and (vi) to the

Committee on Food, Agriculture and

Cocoa Affairs.

Hon Members, you
heard the Hon Majority Leader. So, the
Reports, as presented, are so referred to
the appropriate subject matter Committees
for deliberation and report to the House.

Hon Members, item number 8(b), by

the Chairman of the Committee?

By the Chairman of the Committee —

Thirty-First Report of the

Appointments Committee on H. E.

the President's nomination of Justice

Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey

Torkornoo for appointment as Chief

Justice of the Republic of Ghana.

Hon Members, the item
numbered 8(c) — the Hon Chairman of
the Committee on Roads and Transport.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu — rose —

Yes, Hon Majority
Leader?

Mr Speaker,
this is to the Finance Committee, and the

Mr Speaker, I had a discussion with

the Hon Chairman of the Finance

Committee this morning over this, and

he agrees that the Committee would have

to meet over it and submit a report to the

House. We told them and they advised

the House that that virement could be

done, but even if it has to be done, the

Finance Committee should buy an

information paper and inform this House

of their agreement that this is what they

have advised to be done, so that it

becomes part of the records of this

House. So, that is what they are going to

do and submit a report to the House, but

that report is not ready yet, so it cannot

be laid today.

Hon Members, the item
numbered 8(c) would therefore not be
laid. We await the deliberations and the
outcome from the appropriate
authorities.
Hon Members, we would take the item
numbered 8(d) — by the Hon Chairman of the Committee on Youth, Sports, and
Culture — It means that Report is not ready, so we would move on.
Hon Members, we would move on to
the item numbered 9 — Presentation and First reading of Bills.
BILLS — FIRST READING
Ghana Accreditation Service Bill,
2023
An ACT to establish the Ghana
Accreditation Service to provide
for an efficient and effective
accreditation system for the

accreditation of conformity

assessment bodies to monitor

conformity assessment activities

and to provide for related matters.

Presented by the Minister for Trade

and Industry (Mr Kobina Tahir

Hammond). Read the First time; referred

to the Committee on Trade and Industry

with the support of the leadership of the

Committee on Constitutional, Legal and

Parliamentary Affairs.

Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond — rose —

Yes, Hon Minister for
Trade and Industry?
Minister for Trade and Industry
(Mr Kobina Tahir Hammond): Mr
Speaker, there is a matter that I would
like to draw your attention to. There is an
urgency about it, so we would be asking
that you kindly entreat our Hon
Colleagues to determine the urgency of it
and to report accordingly. I would like to
tell you what the urgency is about.
Apparently, the World Bank, under a
certain programme is giving the Ministry
an amount of over US$5 million to
establish and implement the processes of
this particular Bill. Unfortunately, the
processes leading to the Papers being
laid in Parliament today delayed a lot, so
we have time space; a window of
opportunity. According to the
conditionality of it, if the Bill is not
promulgated into a law by the end of this
month, we would lose the US$5 million.
Accordingly, there is an Executive
approval from the Presidency which
allowed for this matter to be quickly
brought to Parliament. There is also a
letter from the Ministry of Justice and the
Attorney-General's Office which dispensed with the need for gazetting.
Mr Speaker, I have brought these
matters to your attention so that the Hon
Members of the Committee would take
them into account and report on the
urgency of it, so that the House could run
through the processes and enact it before
the end of this month. I thank you for the
opportunity.

Mr
Speaker, I have not seen the Bill myself
and I do not know its content. I am a bit
curious about it. I am curious in the sense
that the Hon Minister is saying that we
should take it through a process of
urgency because there are some urgent
matters relating to it. We are also minded
that we have the responsibility to do a
good job. Probably, the Ministry has
spent months in coming up with such a
Bill and Parliament would need adequate
time to peruse it and pass a Bill that
would stand the test of time.
Mr Speaker, this attitude of always
trying to say that things are urgent and so
we should rush them — I beg to differ. I think that Hon Members should be given
enough time. Hon Members have just
come back from recess and we are well
energised and ready to work, but we
should not rush it. Let us do it in such a
way that the Bill could stand the test of
time. This is something that I think that
we should be minded of and work
according to the processes that we are
allowed to. I thank you for the
opportunity.

Mr Speaker,
I am not too sure that anybody is saying
that the House should rush through the
consideration of the Bill. What the Hon
Minister for Trade and Industry is telling
us is that, because the Bill has delayed so
much, the World Bank has given us a
definite time that by the close of this
month, June, if we do not put in place the
structures required for this, they would
pull out the funding of the US$5 million.
Therefore, the Hon Minister is bringing
this to us to consider.
Mr Speaker, now, the determination of
urgency just means that we skip the 14-
day gazette notification period, so that
when it comes and the Committee
determines, then, that day, they would go
and do the gazetting and then Parliament
would have ample time between now and
the end of the month to do the
consideration; that is what it means. It
does not mean that we are required to do
it in one day. That is not the purpose of
the declaration of an urgent Bill.
Therefore, I think you can make the
referral and the Committee would then
make the determination, and the
Committee, after the determination,
would take their time to go through it
appropriately and accordingly inform
Parliament.

Hon Members, in view
of the —
Mr Ahmed Ibrahim — rose —

Mr Speaker, I
thank you for the opportunity. I am
interested in the Bill because looking at
the background, I have seen Ghana
Accreditation Service Bill, 2023.
However, in this country, when we talk
of “Accreditation”, our minds are always tuned to matters of education and the
National Accreditation Board, so when
the Hon Minister was on his feet, I
thought he was going to go by Order
75(2) only to make a short explanation or
statement about the explanatory
memorandum, so that Hon Members
may know the kind of Bill that is being
laid so that if this is different from — [Interruption]—
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I
beg to quote Order 75(2)
“If so desired by the person presenting a Paper, a short
explanatory statement may be
made by him upon its
presentation.”

So, I just wanted the Hon Minister — the amount of US$5 million from the

World Bank is all right, however, that is

not in the Explanatory Memorandum.

Could the Hon Minister make a short

statement on the Explanatory

Memorandum?

Mr Speaker,
with the greatest respect, let my Hon
Colleague read what is contained in the
Rules of Procedure. It says: “A short explanatory statement” and not “memorandum” — [Interruption] — Please, read it. It says a short
“explanatory statement”, it does not talk about a memorandum, which deals with

the policies, principles, and so on. The

mischief that we have seen and how we

intend to cure it and so on — That is the memorandum, but this is a statement and

it tells us why and indeed, what has

occasioned the urgency of the

presentation. That is what the Hon

Member has told you — [Interruption] — Gyae wásem. W'ankan asem no a, na worekeka —

Hon Members, in view
of the submissions by the Hon Minister
for Trade and Industry, the Minority
Leader, and the Majority Leader, I
withdraw the initial referral to the
Committee on Trade and Industry and
the leadership of the Committee on Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs, and now refer
it to the Committee on Trade and
Industry to determine the urgency or
otherwise of the Bill and report to the
House within two days for the
determination of the House, then, we can
proceed from there. It is so referred.
Hon Members, is there any more item
to be laid? My attention has been drawn
to the fact that yesterday marked the
World Environment Day, and since we
did not Sit yesterday, the Statement
could not be made. However, the Hon
Minister for Environment, Science,
Technology, and Innovation would want
to do so today. In the absence of any
more Business to be laid, we move back
to item numbered 7 — Statements.
Hon Members, a Statement would be
made by the Hon Minister of
Environment, Science, Technology, and
Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, on the
World Environment Day Celebration.
Hon Minister, you may do so now.

Yes, Hon Member for
Nabdam, Dr Mark Kurt Nawaane?

Mr Speaker, thank you very
much for the opportunity and thanks to
the Hon Member who made the
Statement. I would want to ask this
question; where is that plastic policy
document that was started about five
years ago, which I heard was in Cabinet?
Where is that policy document now?
This is because the menace of the plastics
is too much. Research is coming out with
a lot of new findings and that is, plastics
are causing infertility in both men and
women. It is also causing diabetes and
cancer. The chemicals that come out
when we burn plastics are causing a lot
of respiratory problems for people and
even the thyroid gland is beginning to
suffer from the plastics.
In agriculture, when the animals
swallow the plastics, they die. If one sees
that their goat, sheep or dog has died
suddenly, it could be that it has
swallowed some plastic. We might not
do post-mortem for them, but that is the
situation. The soil itself is destroyed by
plastics; so, we should be asking
ourselves as a nation what we are going
to do. With regard to this policy, are we
going to go like other nations where we
only talk about it but in the long run, we
do not do anything? We sit down and
every year - I do not know whether it is
the plastic lobby or whether those who
produce plastics are always able to lobby

their way through, and we do not get our

laws and other things banning the

importation of these plastics into the

country.

Mr Speaker, some countries have

already banned the importation of

plastics, especially the single-use-

plastics and they are thinking of banning

everything - the non-degradable plastics have all been banned. That is the only

way we can go. If we do not swallow the

bullet, with the new findings that are

coming out in the area of science and

medicine, we do not have any solution to

it. We would continue to think that it is

witchcraft or some other causes, but like

the Hon Member said we are all exposed

to it because whenever we are taking our

food, we are taking plastics or dissolved

chemicals that come out of plastics into

our body and this is causing a lot of harm

to us. So, we better look at the plastic

policy and start moving in the right

direction and probably ban the use of

plastics in the country. Thank you.

Several Hon Members — rose -

Yes, Hon Member for
North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto
Ablakwa?
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
(NDC - North Tongu): Mr Speaker, I
am most grateful for the opportunity to
contribute to the Statement on “World
Environment Day”, which has been ably
delivered by the Hon Minister for
Environment, Science, Technology and
Innovation.
The theme for this year's global commemoration, “Beat Plastic Pollution”, as the Hon Minister has reminded us, requires of us as a country
to address this canker head-on. We have,
in my opinion, done the advocacy for a
long time and it is time for action; to
switch from advocacy to action.
Mr Speaker, in recommending action,
I am glad that the Hon Minister is here
and has led us to commemorate the day.
However, in listening to the Hon
Minister carefully, I did not hear of a
concrete action plan. For example, we
know that countries that have passed
laws to ban single-use-plastics have
made tremendous progress. Countries
that have banned plastic bags — one can see the remarkable difference when one
visits those countries. An example is
Rwanda. Rwanda banned plastic bags in
2008 and they search the bags of visitors
to Rwanda, visitors see the notices at the
airport and are even told before they
come in, on the website of the airport,
that visitors are not allowed — and offenders can face a jail term when
arrested. That is how strict they are.
Mr Speaker, everybody has seen the
difference; Rwanda has become one of
the cleanest countries in the world. They
are attracting conferences and have
become the conference hub for Africa,
just because of that singular law that their
government led and their parliament
promulgated. So, we can learn from that.
Kenya also followed suit in 2017 and
Senegal has also followed suit. So, we
can move from the advocacy to real
action.

Today, some of us want to appeal that

let us, as a country, adopt that approach.

Let us start by banning plastic bags and

it is easy to switch from plastic bags to

paper bags which are bio-degradable. It

is very easy to do that. I know that there

may be some commercial interest by

some business people, but we can

encourage them to switch to other

businesses. For example, invest in the

production of paper bags so that we can

protect the environment and live,

because really, what is money,

commercial interest or profit without life

and without quality health in one's country and amongst one's people?

Mr Speaker, I would want to appeal to

the Hon Minister - I know that he is very dynamic, hardworking and is one of the

Hon Ministers I have enormous respect

for. It would be a great legacy in his

name if he can lead all of us so that we

can ban these single-use-plastics. For

example, these plastic cutlery and

straws, we can ban their importation and

then switch to paper cutlery and straws.

They work efficiently and get the job

done. So, I would not want this day to

pass and then it is just another reminder

about the dangers of plastic, how it is

taking over the seas, how it is killing life

in the oceans and the threat that we all

are conscious of. What we need is that

this House teams up with the Executive

to pass laws that will -

Really, if we just rely on moral switch

and sermonising, there would be no

progress. The best examples are

countries which have addressed the

challenge head-on, passed laws, have

outrightly banned plastics and are

enforcing those laws. That, is the way to

go. I really do not see what we should be

afraid of as a people.

We should just deal with this threat

and join in the league of those countries

who have become environmentally

friendly and are being celebrated

globally for dealing with the matter

head-on.

As I conclude, Mr Speaker, I would

also like to remind all of us that on World

Environment Day, another major threat

that we face is the issue of galamsey. It

is not over, and we must all find a lasting

solution. So, yes, let us deal with the

threat of plastics, but let us also address

the issue of galamsey. I saw a statement

from the Ghana Water Company

cautioning that in the next five years, it

would be difficult to guarantee the

production of water. I think that this is

more of an urgent threat in the Ghanaian

context, and I hope that the Hon Minister

would present to us a new programme

sooner than later. This is because we

know that the earlier ones have not

yielded the results. If we could have a

new programme that we could all rally

behind, we could protect our water

bodies, environment and stop the illegal

mining and make sure that we are able to

guarantee life for our people. Mr

speaker, that would be a great legacy that

we could all leave as Hon Members of

Parliament.

I thank you very much for the

opportunity to contribute to the

Statement and I hope that as all of us

have personal lifestyles — the way we go

about our livelihoods on a daily basis as

the Hon Ranking Member has said, we

could start in our own way by making a

personal pledge that we would not use

some of these plastics that cannot be

recycled.

Mr Speaker, even here in Parliament,

we could also start. Those who bring us

food at the cafeteria and all of that, we

could start by making sure that they are

either using paper, or if they would even

use plastic, it is recyclable, so that we

lead by example and we show that this is

really not rocket science. Once there is

commitment and political will, there are

simple solutions that we could pursue

and get the results that we want.

I thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

Mrs Gizella Tetteh-Agbotui (NDC —

Awutu-Senya West): Thank you, Mr

Speaker, and thank you to the Hon

Minister for the Statement he made to

commemorate World Environment Day.

Mr Speaker, la Côte d'Ivoire has just

adopted a new environmental code

against plastic pollution in their country;

la Côte d'Ivoire is our neighbour.

Countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Mali,

Cameroun, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi,

Morocco, South Africa, Rwanda and

Botswana also have strict policies on the

use of single-use plastics.

Hon Minister, perhaps it is time for us

to also reiterate what the strict policy

could be on single-use plastics for our

country. This is because it gets to a time

where perhaps, because we talk a lot, we

tend to make the nice statements and

speeches but after about a month or two,

the enthusiasm dies down.

So, I am pleading with the Hon

Minister that we should reduce the talk

and have more actionable impact that

would be able to ensure that our country

is considerably rid of this single-use

plastics and the pollution that goes along

with it. I represent a coastal community.

When the fisherfolks come from the sea,

the catch is filled with fish and plastics

and it is very significant. One could ask

anyone along the coast, we face it more

because the pollution in the sea is very

pronounced. Perhaps along the Volta and

the riverine communities, theirs may be

a little less but for those of us who have

coastal communities, it is very

pronounced and worrying. This is

because fishermen cannot spend money

buying the scarce premix fuel and go all

the way to sea to go and catch plastics. It

is very delusional.

So, I would plead with the Hon

Minister to make realistic efforts at this.

We are here in this House to help him.

Each one of us is responsible for a

constituency and I believe that whatever

policies he wants to enact, we are here to

support because we all have semblance

of this pollution in our communities and

constituencies. I believe that he could

also have cross-sectoral support.

Although it is the Ministry of

Environment, Science, Technology and

Innovation, let the Ministry of Sanitation

and Water Resources — This is because

they are also very much affected, and

sanitation is very key in supporting the

Ministry on this. Let it not be a one day,

nine day or a 20-day wonder. It could be

a whole campaign; just us we are

campaigning for the break-the-eight with

all the vim that is being mustered, we

should have a campaign on plastics

pollution, single-use plastics, and what

the citizens should do, and I believe that

they would also follow suit. This is

because it would come to a time when we

realise that we have been sleeping on the

job and the plastic pollution is that

damaging to the environment and at

point, we would all just raise our hands

in despair. We must not get to that point.

Mr Speaker, I would plead with the

Hon Minister to take concrete steps. We

are here to help. Everybody's

constituency has challenges with single-

use plastics. However, beyond that, we

should remember the climate crisis is

also real. The loss of biodiversity,

galamsey and other environmental

degradation activities that are ongoing.

We plead that he should let his

campaigns be stronger in the

environmental space and the whole

spectrum so that we could also take

advantage of them and hook unto his. As

we had the Green Ghana Day, it was

quite significant; after greening Ghana,

some of us in the constituency have

actively taken that on as a programme on

our own. However, let us also follow

greening Ghana so that we could make

significant progress, and I believe that as

we represent the people, they would see

the effort that we are also making to be

able to improve our environment. It is

very critical and he should let his

campaigns, media and all other

campaigns show that we mean business.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah

(NDC—Ellembele): Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon

Minister for the Statement on the World

Environmental Day, and for bringing

very critical issues of global platform on

the environment.

Mr Speaker, we should all be very

worried when the Hon Minister says by

2050 more plastics would be in the ocean

than fish. This is very serious but I was

expecting to see that on a day like this, a

bold Statement by the Hon Minister as

has been stated, exchanging the cause

and taking a critical step to deal with a

menace that is basically engulfing us — banning plastics. There is a reason la

Côte d'Ivoire is hosting this conference that the Hon Minister made reference to.

This is because la Côte d'Ivoire has taken a bold decision to ban plastics.

Mr Speaker, there is no reason we should not take those steps. I think a question was asked about what happened to the steps we were taking with the policy of banning plastics. The Hon Minister would be happy to address that issue next time. He travelled all the way to Cabinet, what happened? This is because I believe this House is already in support of that policy.

Mr Speaker, what has prevented us to

pass that, I believe, is what Nigeria is really struggling with. We should never get to the place where Nigeria finds

themselves, where the generator lobby would not allow them to solve their power crisis. If the issues or industry players are so powerful, we should address it with some incentives to move and encourage people in that industry with incentives to basically change cause. However, the time has come for us to really address this issue.

Mr Speaker, on a day like this, as we

talk about plastics and its challenges, the health concerns that have been raised, we should also be talking about our own personal responsibility, how culturally we are changing.

Mr Speaker, what happened to the

days when we were growing up? At 5 a.m. every day, if one is the young person in the house, the person has to go and clean up and sweep around and make sure by 6 p.m., the whole environment is clean. It is surprising that as an Hon Member of Parliament, we would even visit small towns and they are engulfed in dirt. What happened to the dreaded town council? We call it town council but they call it “tankass” where they know that on the day they show up in one's house, the person is in trouble; so everybody is striving to be clean. We must accept that we are engulfed in dirt and we have to do something about it.

Mr Speaker, we have talked a lot about

tourism. The reason we are not going

anywhere is because we are engulfed in

dirts and because of our environmental

issues that we are talking about. We have

to address the issue of trash, but more

importantly, we have to address the issue

of cleanliness if we are to promote

tourism and really attract the type of

investments that we want. Some

countries are developing and are

attracting more investments because of

how they deal with issues of the

environment. On an annual basis, it has

become normal for us to deal with

flooding and likely deaths of our citizens.

Mr Speaker, we must ask the question of

when that stops. I think the Hon Minister

has a great opportunity, and if he listens

to the commentaries of Hon Members,

we stand ready to support his Ministry to

deal with this issue of plastics and other

environmental issues.

Mr Speaker, as an Hon Member of

Parliament from the Western Region, I

can tell you that one's heart bleeds when they drive through a lot of our areas. It

bleeds because there is not one river that

basically stands clean. If one drives

along the Ankobra River that basically

goes all the way into the sea, they would

realise that we are playing dangerously

as a country.

Mr Speaker, we have all accepted that

the issue of galamsey is a failure, but we

cannot give up on that. We must make

some serious decisions that will protect

our environment, not only for us, the

living, but also for the next generation. It

only takes strong leadership. I will not

talk about Accra as the cleanest city

because I got a visitor and the day he was

leaving, he asked me where the

downtown of Accra is. I said Osu, but he

said that could not be the downtown of

Accra because it is too dirty. Mr Speaker,

I bowed my head in shame and it then

dawned on me that which part of Accra

is the place we could take important

guests to and be proud that this is our

country, because it is clean. Accra is the

capital of Ghana and that should tell us a

lot.

On a day like this, we must reflect on

our environment, waterbodies, the issue

of galamsey that quite frankly we have

lost; and the issue of plastics, and vow

that we will change course. Hon

Minister, you have our support.

I thank you, Mr Speaker.

Hon Members, Statement
time has ended and I would proceed to
adjourn the House. The House is
accordingly adjourned till tomorrow at
10.00 a.m. in the forenoon. The House is
adjourned.