These include the Centre for Active Leaning and Development (CALID), Songtaba, Urbanet, NORSAAC, Grameen-Ghana, Partnership for Rural Development (PRUDA), TradeAID, NORPRA and CODAC.

The Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr. Rashid Draman, on the sidelines in a Citi News interview, said the workshop funded by the French government under its CSOs strengthening programme sought to equip the participants on how to engage Parliament.

“Parliament is a very conservative institution, and we don’t want civil society groups to just get up and go and start making noise and in the process the messages are lost, and so we wanted to ensure that there is a constructive way of engagement.”

“We wanted to ensure that there are proper mechanisms of engagement so that these groups when they get up and they want to engage, at least they know what to say and they know how to focus on the issues that are important and they know how to engage the members of Parliament.”

“We hope that when they go back they will carry the message back to their platforms and be the ambassadors of this innovative programme because this is one of a kind in terms of activities we have done to engage Parliament,” he stressed.

He tasked the participants to take advantage of the workshop to network and form synergies with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and individual Legislators.

“These are silent voices and they are doing a lot of good work in this part of our country, and most of the time the work that they do ends up just sitting here; it doesn’t get any attention at the national level.”

“So we thought that it was very important to begin to see how we can connect what they are doing to the policy process because at the end of the day you can do a lot of good work here, but those who have to say yes or no to the policy, the budget and the law are not aware of what they are doing, and so we thought these kinds of conversations are very important.”

Dr. Rashid Draman guaranteed that the workshop would be sustained against the backdrop that there were local partners including Care International and NORSAAC on the ground to ensure its sustainability.

He emphasized the need for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to constructively engage Civil Society Organizations across the country at all levels of the decision making processes.

Some of the participants lauded ACEPA’s initiative and promised to sustain it at the grassroots.

They said the engagement enlightened and re-positioned them to be more proactive in engaging Parliament going forward.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ACEPA trains CSOs in Northern Ghana on parliamentary engagement appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the civil society organization, the allegation dents the legislative body’s integrity.

[contextly_sidebar id=”gUaTauxgKJknFjzGvLIDhEUVh2kRVokB”]The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin, in a letter leaked to the media earlier this week, announced that four legislators including a former MP, have been banned for ten years from entering the UK for various illegal immigration practice facilitated by their diplomatic passports.

Their offenses include helping supposed relatives overstay their visas in the UK.

The Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr. Rasheed Dramani, said, “I think it is yet another heavy blow to the integrity of our Parliament and that is how I will describe it. It is quite unfortunate, and what makes it more unfortunate is the timing of it; at a time when we are healing from another scandal.”

On calls for the diplomatic passports of Members of Parliament to be withdrawn following the allegations, Dr. Rasheed Dramani said withdrawing the diplomatic passports will amount to nothing.

“I think it is not a question of diplomatic passports. It is more about anybody who carries the Ghanaian identity to show that they are a worthy ambassador… The issue is more about all Members of Parliament being guided by the fact that they have a heavy responsibility that they carry in the way they do everything and carry themselves at all times.”

All the MPs implicated in the alleged incident have been slapped with a 10-year ban from the UK.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the Executive Director of ACEPA, Dr. Rashid Dramani, the near fisticuffs and breakdown of order in the House after the adoption of the report last Thursday, was a huge dent on the image of Parliament.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nteHmcRk5eAiNmJXfHZyxkIR4ijQAyJd”]“I think the outcome has further created more clouds and has muddied the waters, especially if you add the breakdown of law and order within Parliament on that day to the outcome of the report, I think it doesn’t help the image of Parliament at all,” he stated to Citi News.

The Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, was charged with contempt of Parliament for making unmerited bribery allegations against members of the Appointments Committee and the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko.

It was determined that Mr. Ayariga fell foul of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Mr. Ayariga was subsequently asked to apologise, which he did, though members of the Majority were left unsatisfied with the apology which some criticized as being insincere, thus escalating tensions in the House of Parliament.

Investigation should have been independent

Dr. Rashid Dramani also noted that, parliament would have to do more to repair its image as he reiterated doubts over the credibility of the Joe Ghartey committee’s process.

“Right from the beginning, we were of the opinion that this work should be done by an independent body so that when we get to this kind of conclusion, you can carry Ghanaians along. I don’t know whether this conclusion  carries Ghanaians along.”

ACEPA had already expressed its doubts over the objectivity of the outcome of the Joe Ghartey Committee.

According to them, questions that were posed to witnesses who appeared before the committee were too skewed in a manner that did not convey the entire story of what transpired.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Joe Ghartey committee report only complicated matters – ACEPA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The report is expected to explain the circumstances surrounding the scandal and make some recommendations on the way forward on the issue which many say has dented the image of the House.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ih8JXgZWUpCO0fGWKJ6nAYYW2WXvtvER”]The Acting Director of Public Affairs of Parliament, Kate Addo, earlier this week told Citi News the presentation had been captured in Parliament’s business statement for this week.

“The committee chairman had indicated that the committee will lay its report on Wednesday and it was contained in the business statement that was read on the floor on Friday. So we are expecting that on Wednesday the committee will lay its report,” she added.

The Joe Ghartey Committee reportedly rounded off its work by taking evidence from three more witnesses.

The five-member Committee was set up following allegations that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko bribed some members of the Appointments Committee.

The Energy Minister has since denied the allegations against him.

The presentation of the report will likely bring a permanent resolution to the matter which has reportedly caused some fracas because some members of parliament.

Joe Ghartey committee’s report won’t be objective – ACEPA

Meanwhile, the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) is skeptical over the objectivity of the outcome of committee’s report.

According to a senior associate of ACEPA, Tuinese Amuzu, questions that were posed to witnesses who appeared before the committee were too skewed in a certain way that did not tell the entire story of what transpired.

Speaking at a multi-stakeholder forum on strengthening responsiveness to corruption-related incidents, Amuzu said “the posture of the committee is as a result of the kind of training that members of the committee had. So we are all brought up into a system that say, if you are coming into this committee there are rules by which you should come. We should be more interested in the substantive matter, and coming to the bottom of it.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Joe Ghartey committee presents ‘bribery’ report today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to a senior associate of ACEPA, Tuinese Amuzu, questions that were posed to witnesses who appeared before the committee were too skewed in a certain way that did not tell the entire story of what transpired.

[contextly_sidebar id=”sgbDKiXdtEV2HWG1MxWmpf4XvtAYvdTU”]He said there is no expectation of any critical outcome from the committee’s report which is to be presented to Parliament next Wednesday.

Speaking at a multi-stakeholder forum on strengthening responsiveness to corruption-related incidents, Amuzu said “The posture of the committee is as a result of the kind of training that members of the committee had. So we are all brought up into a system that say, if you are coming into this committee there are rules by which you should come. We should be more interested in the substantive matter, and coming to the bottom of it.”

“We should be less technical and more inclusive and more interested in delving into the bottom of the matter so that we will not say, you have come to give testimony on a particular aspect of the matter and once you are done, that is it.”

Parliament earlier this year, set up a five-member committee to investigate corruption allegations level against members of the Appointments Committee.

It was alleged that some members of the minority on the committee, were given bribes allegedly from the minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko to facilitate his approval after he appeared before the committee for vetting.

The committee eventually took testimonies from key persons mentioned in the scandal including Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa,  Member of Parliament for North Tongu; Muntaka Mubarak, Member of Parliament for Asawase; Boakye Agyarko; Energy Minister; Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central; and Joe Osei-Owusu, Member of Parliament for Bekwai, who also doubled as Chairman of the Appointments Committee.

But ACEPA said it does not expect any positive outcome from the committee’s report.

It had earlier said the delay in the release of the report could give room for speculations about the credibility of the report, adding that, the composition and posture of the committee already shows that the outcome will not incriminate any member of Parliament.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Joe Ghartey committee’s report won’t be objective – ACEPA appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

ACEPA contends that even though the wide majority may affect Parliament’s checks and balances role over the executive, the outcome of the parliamentary elections only represents the wishes and aspirations of Ghanaians.

The New Patriotic Party won over 170 seats in Parliament in last Wednesday’s general election.

Speaking to Citi News, the Executive Director of ACEPA,Dr Rasheed Dramani said the NPP should use the numbers they have in Parliament to ensure that a number of critical bills are passed.

“You will think that a Parliament with such a huge majority is not good for an emerging democracy particularly from the point of view of checks and balances but we are not living in normal times.The mandate that is handed to the New Patriotic Party is a mandate of oversight and accountability.

“If you look at the numbers in Parliament from that point of view you will think that the NPP and the numbers that they have in Parliament, they will do well to use those numbers to make sure they prosecute an agenda that will ensure that some of the outstanding issues for instance, the Freedom of Information law and a  number of policy issues that have been lingering for years will be passed.”

There have been delays in the passage of some critical bills including the Right to Information among others into laws.

Many Ghanaians have called on government to for instance passed the Right to Information Bill, but President Mahama has stated that he cannot force Parliament to pass the 10-year old bill into law.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline,com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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