Up until last Tuesday, proceedings roughly begun at midday; a practice some found good, others found very bad, but at least at the very beginning, the rationale of the time shift was to give workers fixing the roof of Parliament, the luxury of early morning hours to work.

The change in time was announced at the end of the fourth week, but judging from the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) in the Chamber when the Speaker took his seat on the first day of business for the week, the message from the Majority Leader, did not seep into the consciousness of the MPs.

Empty Chamber 

The presence of less than ten MPs at the start of business in the House on Tuesday was a matter of serious concern for the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Mike Oquaye, who minced no words in chastising the seeming lack of punctuality by Members to the Business of the House, and capped it off with the fact that the Ghanaian tax payer expected some form of “seriousness” from the MPs with regards to their attitude to business of the House.

Subsequent to this, numbers in the House at the beginning of business in the course of the week were appreciable at least from my standpoint.

On the Floor this week, Youth and Sports Minister, Isaac Asiamah (NPP, Atwima Mponua), delivered a statement on the occasion of Africa Youth Day.

The statement served as fertile grounds for the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu (MP, Tamale South) to take government to task on the recent rise in the incidence of a phenomenon that has been uncannily tagged “Political Vigilantism.”

To him, the Akufo-Addo Administration had done very little to stem the worrying trend that is fast casting an indelible slur on the ten-month old NPP administration, and concluded that the Interior Minister should shun the rhetoric and get to work.

Development Authority, Office of the Special Prosecutor and Zongo Development Fund Bills

This week on the Floor, two of government’s flagship bills were passed. After close to three weeks of debate, amendments and tweaking, Parliament passed the Middle Belt Development Authority Bill and the Coastal Development Authority Bill, to provide the framework for the accelerated socio-economic development of the stated zones and related matters.

With the passage of the two bills, the other bill in the same vein, yet to be passed is the Northern Development Authority Bill.

Within the scheme of things in the House, another major bill being fine-tuned at the consideration stage is the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill.

Last week, there was heated debate across the aisle during the second reading stage of the bill. During the debate on the policy and principles of the bill, the Minority through MPs such as Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, Dr. Dominic Ayine (NDC Bolga East), Mahama Ayariga (NDC, Bawku Central), Rockson Dafeamakpor (NDC, South Dayi) and Inusah Fuseini (NDC, Tamale Central), made the point that there was nothing novel about the Special Prosecutor especially when the 1992 Constitution gives such powers to the Attorney General.

To them, government and indeed, Parliament, could be threading on dangerous grounds trying to carve out a bill from Article 88 of the constitution without amending the constitution.

In the view of Haruna Iddrisu for instance, the absence of the twin word for corruption-bribery in the bill, was very worrying, and could not be justified in any sense.

The Majority through its Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu (NPP, Suame), and members such as Yaw Buaben Asamoah (NPP, Adenta), Alexander Abban (NPP, Gomoa West) among others, essentially made the point that there was nothing wrong with the approach government had taken towards creating the office of the Special Prosecutor to deal with public sector corruption not sparing private interests in the quest to fulfill a campaign promise and importantly reduce the impact of corruption.

Alexander Abban even dared anyone who thought the constitution was being violated to create the office of the Special Prosecutor to head to the Supreme Court.

In her concluding remarks to the House, Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, indicated that government would remain resolute and surmount any obstacle on the path towards the passage of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill.

In the course of the week, the House led by the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, took portions of the bill through the consideration stage.

So far twenty, clauses of the bill have been worked on. Still related to bills, another flagship bill of government, the Zongo Development Fund bill was taken through the second reading stage. The bill among other things seeks to create a fund that would address the challenges peculiar to Zongo Communities in the country.

The major issue that sprung up in the course of the debate was the issue of funding. The bill as currently presented before the house, provides the fund with seed money of 50 million dollars, and leaves the allocation of further resources to the discretion of the Finance Minister.

This arrangement however, is one that a section of the house from the Majority and the Minority are opposed to. The joint Committees on Finance and Local Government, that worked on the bill in their recommendations, stated that there must be a dedicated source of funding. This view was trumpeted by Opposition front Benchers, Muntaka Mubarak (NDC, Asawase) and Ahmed Ibrahim (NDC, Tain).

The Sector Minister, Boniface Abubakar Sadiqque is however of the opinion that government’s commitment towards uplifting living conditions in Zongos would drive the needed resources into the coffers of the Fund to support the agenda of the Ministry, whilst he works hard to access donor funds to augment the budget for the sector.

On the last day of sitting in the week, Parlaiment approved a number of things – First, the report of the Appointments Committee on the President’s nominee For Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister was approved.

Thus, Kennedy Osei Nyarko (NPP, Akim Swedru), gets to replace William Agyapong Quaitoo (NPP, Akim Oda), as Deputy Minister after the latter resigned earlier in the year for disparaging comments made about farmers of northern extraction in the tumult of government’s fight against the ravaging fall army worm invasion.

Other pieces of legislation worked on by the Subsidiary Legislation Committee in the shape of Timber Resource Management and Legality Licensing Regulations, seeks to clarify the legal regime for the timber trade in Ghana in accordance with a Voluntary Partnership Agreement signed with the EU in 2009.

The VAT (Exemption of Active Ingredients, Selected Inputs and Selected Drugs or Pharmaceuticals) Amendment regulation, which waives some taxes on ingredients for the local production of drugs was also approved by the house.

Outside the Chamber

While deliberations were unfolding on the floor, on the sixth floor of JOB 600(the office complex of the MPs), proceedings of the Mines and Energy Committee (without the minority) with regards to Adansi Asokwa MP, KT Hammond’s motion for the rescission of the 510 million dollar AMERI deal had resumed.

Taking his turn at the hearing was Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, who in brief, after testifying to the Committee for over an hour, stated that the AMERI deal could not be justified on any front whether technical or financial.

The Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, Adams Mutawakilu picked up his own axe with the submissions of Mr. Agyarko, insisting that the submission is a vindication of the Minority’s position on the AMERI deal.

During the week under review, the Public Accounts Committee held a sitting to scrutinize the accounts of some Ministries in relation to the 2015 Auditor General’s Report.

The issue of unearned salaries reared its ugly head once again at the sittings.

Also, using all the arsenal at their disposal, the Minority started a campaign to get Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa sacked for his infamous ‘ some Ghanaians are more Ghanaian than others” comments.

Not even an apology from under-fire diplomat, George Ayisi Boateng, would douse the flame of the onslaught from the Minority to get Ayisi Boateng. The apology was tagged insincere by Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

The pressure is still on as some Minority MPs want the Foreign Minister summoned to answer for the conduct of the High Commissioner.

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Frank Annor Dompreh, (NPP, Nsawam Addoagyir), has condemned the statement, but believes that the  apology is enough and Mr. Ayisi Boateng  should not lose his job.

This week in Parliament

The last of the three development Authority Bills – the Northern Development Authority Bill – is expected to be passed in the coming week.

The Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill is expected to progress through the consideration stage, and Ministers would appear before the house to answer questions at the behest of some MPs.

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By Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The Writer is the Parliamentary Reporter for Citi 97.3 FM, Adabraka-Accra

The post Duke’s Parliamentary diaries: Week 5 – A pack of bills and an empty chamber appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Speaker was not in his chair throughout the week because he was not available but in my view, that did not in any way affect the smooth running of proceedings as First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei owusu (NPP MP, Bekwai) and Second Deputy Speaker Alban Bagbin (NDC MP, Nadowli-Kaleo) steered the affairs of the House creditably from Tuesday through to Friday.

On the Floor

Some Ministers who were programmed to answer questions on the Floor of the House did not show up for various reasons including the fact that some of them had to be part of the team hosting President Alassane Ouattara [Ivorian President] who was in the country at the time.

This incurred the “wrath” of the Minority and at different times within the week. Members on the front bench of the Minority such as Chief Whip Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak (NDC MP, Asawase) and Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi (NDC MP,Ketu North) protested the non-appearance of the Ministers on the Floor.

Matters came to a head on Friday [October 20, 2017] when Second Deputy Speaker, Alban Bagbin then in the Speaker’s chair, rejected the explanation of the Majority as to why the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwesi Amoako- Atta (MP, Atiwa West) failed to honour the invitation of the House and did not assign any of his deputies to represent him in answering questions from Alhassan Suhuyini (MP, Tamale North) regarding the roads in his constituency.

Not even the explanation of Majority Chief Whip, Kwesi Ameyaw-Cheremeh (MP, Sunyani East) that the Ministers were at a retreat, could dissuade the note of caution Alban Bagbin gave the front bench of the Majority.

Special Prosecutor Bill

Within the week, the report of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill was laid on the Floor of the House.

Ranking Member of the Committee, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini (NDC MP, Tamale Central) insisted in an interview with me that Parliament had the power to carve out the office of the Special Prosecutor by law despite differing legal opinions proferred by respected Senior Law Lecturer at the University Of Ghana School of Law, Dr Raymond Atuguba on the constitutional questions that surround the bill.

Throughout the week, the Employment, State Enterprises and Social Welfare Committee of the House chaired by Kwame Anyimadu Antwi(NPP MP,Asante Akim Central) presented amendments to the Northern, Middle Belt and Coastal Development Authority bills which went through the consideration stage.

NCA statement on the floor of Parliament

The highlight for me on the Floor was the heated debate on Thursday that flowed from the “fiery” speech of Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (NPP MP, Ablekuma West) on the sanctions of the National Communications Authority (NCA).

The Minister’s speech essentially bordered on her outfit’s resolve to bring sanity in the media space by ensuring that the NCA does not renege on its regulatory role through the issuance of sanctions as and when necessary.

The speech elicited a response in equal measure from Minority MPs such as Sam George (NDC MP, Ningo Prampram) who rejected portions of the legal argument from the Minister indicating that the schedule of fees used for the sanctions had not even come to Parliament.

Similar points of view were espoused by Minority Spokesperson on Communications, Alhaji A.B.A Fuseini (NDC MP,Sagnarigu), Mahama Ayariga (NDC MP, Bawku Central)  and Alhassan Suhuyini. The Majority mounted a spirited defence of the Minister’s speech with Alexander Afenyo-Markin (NPP MP, Effutu) defending the actions of the NCA to shut down some radio stations based on points of law and the Electronic Communications Act 775.

The Minister, in conclusion, announced that, she had received some petitions with asking for a reduction of the fines.

Over the weekend, news broke that some of the fines had been halved, an expected reprieve to many media organisations that are drowning in the sheer magnitude of the fines.

AMERI Recision

In August 2017, KT Hammond (NPP MP, Adansi Asokwa) filed an urgent motion for recision of the 510 million dollar AMERI deal for reasons of gross misrepresentation. The speaker’s decision to refer the motion to the Mines and Energy Committee of the House did not sit well with the Minority and thus, they staged a walkout.

Subsequently, the Minority decided to boycott the sittings of the Committee of which two were public hearings in the course of the week.

In K.T Hammond’s  submission to the Committee, he argued that new information available to him suggests that AMERI shortchanged the government of Ghana by misrepresenting some facts, and in the process made “super-normal” profits of 150 million dollars from a power plant the country procured in the heat of the “Dumsor” in 2015.

He further argued that the as the Ranking Member on the Committee who seconded the motion, he owes it a duty to bring the belated information to the notice of the House in a bid to call back the deal or get it rescinded.

Former Power Minister, Dr Kwabena Donkor (NDC MP, Pru East) under whose tenure the deal was brokered, however believed that, calling back the deal through Parliament, is not the best option especially when AMERI was signed off with the blessings of the VRA, which acted as the Technical advisers, and that AMERI till date gives the country one of the most competitive tariffs.

Go to court not Parliament

He argued that, just like most of his other colleagues in the Minority had said, if the deal is bad, it should be terminated through the law courts and not Parliament.

Opinion

The NCA had been dead to its regulatory role in the media space for years, and the sudden quickening of the state body to take up its role through the issuance of the sanctions that affected some 131 radio stations is commendable.

But for the sake of media sanity, there should be a semblance of tampering justice with mercy, at least as the “first warning” as it is said in Ghanaian parlance.

And in no uncommon way, the current leadership of the NCA and the Communications Ministry has shown through the whole sanctions that they are ready to bite the bullet and take the hard decisions to sanitize the country’s media space.

With regards to the AMERI recision proceedings unfolding, it is my view that the Minority should have participated in the hearings at least as a measure of helping grow the country’s democracy.

Just as members of the then Minority were condemned for staying out of the vetting of President Mahama’s appointees in 2013, the current Minority in Parliament, should have joined the proceedings even though they believe it would be a mere formality.

Their decision however, is consistent with their resolve that Parliament is not the appropriate tool to deal with the matter, but rather the courts.

On the matter of coverage of the proceedings of the Committee, the leadership of Parliament must be commended for allowing the media to sit through some of the hearings, notably that of Dr. Kwabena Donkor  and KT Hammond.

But in my view, the public interest would have been better served if the media were also allowed to cover the critical submission of the officials of AMERI. That notwithstanding, the proceedings so far have been enlightening and Ghanaians wait with bated breath, the committee’s full report to the plenary, and how things would unfold from there.

This week in Parliament

With the report of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee on the Office of the Special Prosecutor Bill laid last week, the Committee is expected to present its report, replete with the various amendments and the debate that would characterize the second reading stage, where the policy and principles of the bill are deliberated upon.

Also, if the programme of the House rolls out as scheduled, the Northern, Middle Belt and Coastal Development Authority Bills, are expected to be read the third time and passed.

The Ministers of Energy, Foreign Affairs, Interior, and National Security among others, are expected to appear before the House in the course of the week, in relation to questions from MPs on their respective sectors.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The Writer is the parliamentary reporter for Citi 97.3 FM

The post Duke’s Parliamentary diaries: Week 3 – Media sanity and tug of Ameri appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.