WTO talks and its implications for Ghana
Do not abolish boarding school system - Asiedu-Mensah
Kwabenya landfill project would not contaminate water sources
Accra (Greater Accra) 06 December 2001 - A Fisheries Bill seeking to revise and improve the legislative bases for monitoring, controlling and surveillance of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the Inshore Exclusive Zone (IEZ) on Wednesday went through the second reading in Parliament.
All members, who contributed to it, said the Bill was over-due since its passage would promote the fishing industry. Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, NDC-Wenchi West, described the Bill as an excellent one that was initiated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and was significantly improved on by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government. "It is an excellent Bill which should receive the support of the House".
Mr Joseph Darko-Mensah, NPP-Okaikoi North, said it would enable Ghanaian fishermen to do business at par with their foreign counterparts.
Mr Ishmael Ashietey, Minister of Fisheries, presenting a memorandum to the Bill said the fishing industry was a large employer of labour and the country's inability to derive maximum benefit from it was because it had not been able to control fishing activities.
The Bill was also to consolidate amendments, the existing statutes regulating fishing in the country and to revise the functions of the Fisheries Commission. "The country has extensive fishing grounds which if properly monitored and managed should augment national revenue."
Mr Alex Korankye, Chairman on the Committee of Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs, presenting a report, on the Bill said the Ghana Standard Board must determine the standard of quality, weight and prices of fish.
He said fishermen should be given representation on the Fisheries Commission considering their population and the amount of fish and fish products they produced for the consumption on the local market.
Mr Korankye said local tuna companies should be assisted to expand their capacity to harvest the excess tuna instead of authorising foreign vessels to do so.
The Bill suggested the establishment of a standard price for Tuna to avoid its trans-shipment on the high seas and to prevent Tuna vessels from landing their catch in other countries, he said.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 December 2001 - Alhaji Issaku Salia, Member of Parliament for Wa East, on Wednesday said the World Trade Organisation would benefit immensely if it shifted the course of globalisation so "that the interests of people and the environment, rather than the interest of multinational corporations are at the forefront".
He said it was unfortunate that decisions made at the Trade talks affected the lives of millions of people across the world while International Trade Agreements usually took place on the blind side of the public and even national legislatures.
Alhaji Salia said this in a statement made in Parliament on the WTO - The Doha Round of talks and its implications for Ghana. He said, "trade negotiations are usually left to "trade experts" who negotiate on our behalf without consultation along the way and then protocols are signed committing whole nations especially those in developing countries".
Alhaji Salia said the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) was one of the latest that had been put on the agenda at the Doha meeting at the insistence of the developed countries and its key provision was the de-barring of governments from giving local companies preference over foreign -owned companies.
He said it was, therefore, clear that national laws that were judged by a WTO panel of "trade experts" to be "barriers to trade" would be prohibited and asked what would happen to Ghana's quest for a "Golden Age of Business" under the such an agreement.
Alhaji Salia said another contradiction in the WTO was that while the developed countries practised protectionism especially the Agreement on Agriculture, "our government and other third world governments have removed almost all subsidies and support to farmers as demanded by the WTO agreement on agriculture.
Alhaji Salia said the United States and the European Union maintained subsidies of 50,000 and 20,000 dollars per farmer per year, respectively, in their countries and this practice distorted competition and enabled farmers in those countries to dump cheap agricultural produce on "our markets".
The MP said the meeting recognised the gravity of public health problems afflicting many developing countries in their inability to access life saving drugs for communicable diseases and other diseases of the poor.
He said he hoped that the WTO would, therefore, carry forward its intention to grant flexibility to developing countries to deal with public health and diseases of the poor such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
Alhaji Salia said if the WTO was to have such sweeping powers over peoples' lives then it was only fair that they became accountable to them. "WTO operations have been consistently criticised as been undemocratic and shrouded in secrecy and that negotiations usually take place behind closed doors because of the strategic corporate interests at stake", he added.
Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC- Keta North, said there was the need for developing countries to rally round and ensure that the WTO changed its rules to ensure competitiveness in the world market.
He said it was the hope that the developed countries would assist the developing countries to break even and overcome the trade barriers, which were affecting their socio-economic development.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 December 2001 - The Member of Parliament for Dormaa West, Mr Yaw Asiedu- Mensah on Wednesday said as much as possible the idea of abolishing the boarding school system should be discouraged to ensure that students and parents did not flock to the few well developed schools at the beginning of every academic year.
He said the NPP Government's policy to select one secondary school in each district to develop it fully was laudable and it should include the provision of boarding and lodging and staff accommodation.
Mr Asiedu-Mensah in a contribution in Parliament on admission into senior secondary schools (SSS), said the combined effect of what the previous governments did up to 1980 made the educational system in Ghana, arguably the best system in Africa south of the Sahara.
Mr Asiedu-Mensah said according to the vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana, in 2000 most of the students who gained admission came from only 50 of the over 500 secondary schools (both public and private) in Ghana.
"There are wide spread disparities of equity indicators between the urban and rural schools and a World Bank report of 1992 said the population that completed secondary school education was 11 per cent in the urban areas and as low as 2.8 per cent in the rural areas", he said.
Mr Asiedu-Mensah said while most parents clamoured for vacancies for their children in the so-called well-endowed schools, such schools had limited boarding and lodging facilities and this explained why parents attempted to influence the Headmasters.
He said what needed to be done was to try to expand the facilities in the secondary schools and if necessary not to open new schools in the immediate future so that facilities could be expanded in the well established schools to take on more students.
Mr Asiedu-Mensah said more attention needed to be paid to the technical and vocational institutes which offered an alternative to secondary education since the way they were being run made Junior Secondary students not enthusiastic to take advantage of them.
Mr M.A. Seidu, NDC- Wa Central, said the difficulties in gaining admission to the well-endowed schools were because of the disparities in the urban and rural school system.
He said the idea of the government selecting one school from each district to develop would rather compound the problems facing schools as most parents would rush there with their children to seek admission while the rests would be neglected.
Mr Seidu said there was the need to critically examine and analyse the merits and demerits of the idea of de-boardinisation of schools since there were various school of thought to its advantages and disadvantages before coming to a suitable decision.
Mr Akomea Kwasi Kyeremanteng, NPP- Afigya-Sekyere East, said the type of Parent-Teacher Associations and activities of Old Boys Associations were the reasons for most of the neglect and gradual dying of the rural schools.
He said while old boys in good positions contributed to the development of their former schools, the PTA's also had systems which contributed to their sustenance whereas the new and rural schools were virtually neglected since most of their graduates did not even have employment to contribute meaningfully to help their schools grow.
Mr Akwasi Afrifa, NPP-Fomena, said the rural students were not making the grades to gain admission into senior secondary schools because of poor infrastructure, lack of qualified teachers and reading materials.
The 38 teacher training colleges were also not able to produce enough teachers to man the numerous schools across the country and "if unprofessional teachers are made to teach in rural schools the result would be mass failures".
Dr Kwame Ampofo, NDC-South Dayi, said there was general consensus that standard of education was falling but most people have failed to realise that the population growth rate had outstripped the existing school structures and manpower needs.
He said the issue of equity in the educational system if care was not taken about selecting one school in each district to be developed and suggested that less endowed schools should rather be supported to develop.
Dr Ampofo said the remuneration of especially rural teachers should be considered while a quota of admission was reserved for students from rural schools to attend the well-endowed schools.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 December 2001 - The Kwabenya Landfill Project in Accra being undertaking by Messrs Taylor Woodrow Limited has been designed to prevent seepage to contaminate surface and underground water sources.
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Ghana Water Company are in negotiations to extend water supply to the Kwabenya Township and its immediate environs.
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said these in an answer to an urgent question posed by Nii Adu Daku Mante, NPP-Klottey-Korle.
Mr Mante asked the Minister what concrete plans the ministry had put in place to ensure that work by TAYSEC at the land fill site at Kwabenya in the Ga District progressed steadily.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the works was termed "enabling works" and included the construction of the access road to the site and the drainage culvert required to carry both storm water and surface runoff from the landfill.
He said the purpose for developing a landfill facility at Kwabenya was to address the problem of waste disposal by constructing a properly engineered landfill. It has the capacity to handle all domestic waste generated in Accra and the Ga District for the next 25 years.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Government of the United Kingdom through the Department for International Development was funding the project estimated at 6.8 million pounds.
He said the project, which progressed steadily, met initial hold-ups by some local protestors, whose grievances were that the landfill would be dangerous to their health and cause health hazards such as low birth rate, cancer and deformities.
The Minister said the hold-ups sent wrong signals to the development partners, particularly the British Government and other donors. However, the government had been able convince them that everything possible was being done to ensure that the project was not stalled.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said experts had reliably informed him that the fear the protestors expressed about the potential health hazards was unfounded. He said there had been series of consultations by the District Chief Executives of AMA and Ga District Assembly with the chiefs, elders and the protestors to allay their fears and to reassure them that their concerns would be addressed.
Measures taken to ensure steady progress of work included security arrangement to protect life and property, continuous consultations with aggrieved parties, land acquisition and compensation and public education.
Mr Sampson Ottu Darko, NPP-Ga North, Alhaji Amadu Seidu, NDC- Yapei/Kusawgu, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, NDC- Ayawaso East, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, NDC- Ningo/Prampram and Mr M.A. Seidu, NDC-Wa Central expressed various concerns about waste disposal and the project.
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