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He maintained that if the trajectory as he had noticed was to continue, then the policy would be on its knees in no time. Dr. Adutwum, made his point centrally on the plank that the Free Senior High School Policy is one that would offer equal opportunity to the wards of both rich and poor parents to harness their human potential for the forward march of the country. On the implementational challenges, especially with regards to infrastructure, Dr. Adutwum famously retorted on the floor that \u201cit is better for kids to study under trees than to sell dog-chains on the streets,\u201d adding that government would work to fix the challenges.<\/p>\n
Probably another memorable snippet worth recounting is the contribution of Deputy Minority Whip, Comfort Doyoe (MP, Ada) who in her contribution, indicated that government should run the Free SHS side alongside a system where well-to-do parents can pay the fees for their wards, because she fears the free element would affect the quality of education at the Senior High School level. She ended her contribution by retorting that if the government continued this way with its policies then\u201d we must change the change\u201d. Perhaps, a move to help cut down the infrastructural deficit at our senior high schools which seems to have been exposed on a pronounced scale by the Free SHS policy, is the second tranche of the Financing agreement of some 40 million dollars from the International Development Association\u00a0(IDA) of the World Bank, recently passed by the house which would among other things, upgrade facilities in some existing 75 SHSs.<\/p>\n
The Country\u2019s Energy Sector was another hotbed of deliberations in the budget debate cycle. The Minority continuously laid claim to the fixing of the power crisis also known as Dumsor, indicating that the Akufo Addo administration had virtually done nothing to end it. Minority MPs such as Dr. Kwabena Donkor(MP, Pru East), Adams Mutawakilu (MP, Damongo), John Jinapor (MP, Yapei Kusawgu) among others, argued the Minority’s case on the matter and insisted that the investments made in the sector by the Mahama administration had caused the current stability in the sector.<\/p>\n
The Majority disagreed with MPs on that side, and notably the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, who was on the floor to debate the budget, insisting that the credit ought to be bestowed on the current government because the dumsor challenge which, according to him, was essentially a money problem and not that of generation capacity, had been effectively dealt with and over time, adding that the Akufo-Addo administration\u00a0 would transform the energy sector. Interestingly, during the debate on the Energy aspects of the budget, Vice Chairman of the Mines and Energy Committee, \u00a0George Mireku Duker (MP,Tarkwa-Nsuaem) brought a gas cylinder to the floor of Parliament to illustrate his point that the government\u2019s recirculation policy is in order but his tool raised eyebrows on the floor as Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi (MP, Ketu North) drew the attention of the Speaker to the fact that the gas cylinder was a threat to the safety of Members and could be used as a weapon<\/strong><\/a><\/span>. First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu ( MP, Bekwai) agreed with the Minority\u2019s call and thus directed the Marshall to take the cylinder out of the chamber, chastising the security in the House for giving clearance for the cylinder to be brought into the chamber in the first place.<\/p>\n The debate on the communications sector saw a clash between Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George and Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu (MP, Ablekuma West) over issues such as the migration from analogue TV to digital (for which Sam George said, government owes the company putting in place the system; a claim the Minister denies), the rollout of the National Identification System or the Ghana Card and the Ghana Post GPS.<\/p>\n Other Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n In the period under the review, the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko was on the floor of the House to answer questions on the BOST fuel saga. Key amongst the issues raised was that the Ministerial Committee had requested for an extension to their deadline on several occasions to get their work done but in the interim, individuals had been barred from lifting off-spec fuel from BOST. He reiterated that the committee\u2019s report will be made available to Parliament\u2019s Mines and Energy Committee after a white paper has been issued on it. The MP who asked the question, Edward Bawa (MP, Bongo) was however not pleased with the answers, insisting that he has incontrovertible evidence to the effect that the said Ministerial Committee had never met.<\/p>\n Another matter of serious concern which came up on the floor was the matter of the ongoing slave auctions in Libya, involving mainly nationals from some West African countries. The Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey (MP, Anyaa Sowutuom) was on hand to brief the House on the situation but could not say for certain if some Ghanaians had been sold or not. MPs were united in their condemnation of the acts of barbarity and modern day slavery. Meanwhile, two chartered flights had brought in some 127 Ghanaians with the support of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM). The government hopes to soon re-open the country\u2019s mission in Tripoli for better monitoring of the situation.<\/p>\n Also, the Roads and Highways Minister, Kwasi Amoako-Atta (MP, Atiwa West),\u00a0was on the floor of the House over the closure of the Yapei-Buipe Bridges for repair works; a situation that has brought untold hardship to road users and travellers to the Northern part of the country. He stated that the inconvenience is a necessary evil but assured that the workers were travailing day and night to complete the repairs in four weeks<\/strong><\/span><\/a> at the cost of 4 million cedis.<\/p>\n Outside the Chamber<\/strong><\/p>\n Away from the floor of the House, the Foreign Affairs Committee is accepting memoranda<\/strong><\/a><\/span> from the general public who have been victims of ill-treatment at foreign missions in the country. This is in line with the Speaker’s directive to the committee to investigate the increasing number of cases of maltreatment of Ghanaians at some embassies. The deadline for the submission of the memoranda is December 8.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Shirley-Ayorkor-Botchway-Minister-of-Foreign-Affairs-620x330.jpg\")
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