Debate on tertiary education report starts

Appointments Committee vets Health Minister-designate

Sale of Estate houses may commence soon

Accra (Greater Accra) 2 Feb. 2000

Debate on the motion for the adoption of a special report on problems facing tertiary education nearly suffered a false start on Tuesday when procedural disagreements on an early amendment halved the house.

An amendment pushed by Mr George Buadi, NDC- Amenfi- East, to the report was resisted by the minority as " improper " since it did not conform to normal practice of the House.

Papa Owusu Ankoma, NPP-Sekondi, charged that the introduction of the amendment was not only improper but also subversive of the motion.

Item 4.2 of the report, the source of controversy, said since a fee on a number of facilities including library, laboratory and workshop does not fit into the meaning and content of living expenses they should be in the Government's domain in consonance with articles 25 and 38 of the Constitution.

Mr Buadi's said his amendment sought to clear the impression that it is mandatory for the government to provide fully towards education even when it does not have the means.

He said the articles 25 and 38 referred to by the report stressed on " capacity " and " availability " and so it should be reflected in the report as such.

Mr Freddie Blay, Second Deputy Speaker, who was in the chair, did not countenance the amendment.

Sqdr. Leader Clend Sowu, NDC-Anlo, said the days of free tertiary education are gone forever and that all should accept the reality.

He said although, the cost of education is gone up, he would not support a tax increase to fund it.

The member said bursaries and scholarships should be introduced on competitive basis to reflect the needs of the nation over a period of time.

Sqdr. Leader Sowu called for the proper organisation of the pre-tertiary sector to make its products more productive.

Mr Francis Kwame Nyarko, NPP-Kade, said education should be accorded the highest priority since it is only through it that society can progress.

He said since the rate of poverty is high in the country, the government should carry the largest part of the burden of funding.

The Member said the nation stands to lose greatly if issues on education are politicised and handled lightly, especially, when it is universally accepted that modern societies are being driven by intellectual power and ideas.

On the student loan scheme, he said it should be turned into a revolving fund to guarantee its sustainability.

He asked SSNIT, the loan provider, to find out why they are recording a low percentage of students' loan repayment and how it could be addressed.

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Accra (Greater Accra) 2 Feb. 2000

Professor Kwaku Danso-Boafo, Minister of Health-designate on Tuesday said if his nomination was confirmed, he would introduce appropriate incentives to retain and attract health personnel to enhance health care delivery in the country.

Prof. Danso-Boafo told the Parliamentary Appointments Committee during his vetting that he would bring his academic training and experience to bear on the Ministry to ensure efficiency in the sector.

The 50-year-old public administrator and political scientist told the public hearing that he would pursue a policy which will attract the kind of expertise the sector needs to ensure the realisation of the goals envisioned in the "Vision 2020" programme.

In this regard, he said he would undertake a systematic programme of human resource development and ensure the provision of the necessary infrastructure and equipment.

On how to address the problem of funding for the sector, the Minister-designate said in view of the financial constraints facing the country, he would increase efforts to attract the necessary funding from the international donor communities, adding, "My objective would be to make the Ministry creditor-friendly".

Asked about his views on the cash-and-carry system, Prof. Danso-Boafo explained that the programme was introduced to enable the government to recover some of the expenditure being incurred in health care delivery.

He said the system did not favour the rural communities, who form between 60 and 70 per cent of the country's population, since they could not afford the high cost of health care services.

To address this problem, he said one consideration was the introduction of the national health insurance scheme, a pilot project, which has been set up at Bole in the Northern Region, Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region and Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region.

He expressed the hope that when fully implemented, the scheme would address the problem of meeting the high cost of health care services.

On the situation where in spite of shortage of doctors, qualified medical officers are assigned administrative positions, Prof. Danso-Boafo told the panel that the Ministry would review the situation.

"We intend to look at the background of such health personnel, examine what they were trained to do and whether their specific training deviates from what they are doing now and take a decision.

He said his administration would undertake personnel and job analysis and place personnel where their expertise would be fully utilised, adding, "so after this analysis the appropriate re-assigning would be done".

On what prescription he would recommend to address the country's high fertility rate and its attendant rapid population growth, Prof. Danso-Boafo said he would ensure the intensification of public education and the strengthening of family planning programmes.

He said he would involve the churches, schools and non-governmental organisations in this exercise to enable the people to better appreciate the adverse effects of rapid population growth on the country's socio-economic development.

The Minister-designate said one area that would be of prime concern to the sector would be sanitation and gave the assurance that the Ministry would devote a lot of attention to ensure clean environment to help prevent outbreak of diseases.

On tax exemptions for donations of medical supplies and equipment, Prof. Danso-Boafo told the Committee that he would try to persuade Parliament to grant such exemptions to encourage Ghanaians resident abroad, who are desirous to help out the health sector, with such donations, to do so.

Asked how he intends to address the situation where beneficiaries of scholarship schemes have always been doctors in the urban areas, the Minister-designate said the Ministry would provide linkages to the districts to ensure that such health personnel are not disadvantaged by virtue of their being in the rural areas.

He said he would ensure that such doctors benefit from such facilities to enhance their professional competence to provide better health care services to the rural communities, who form the bulk of the country's population.

In his curriculum vitae, Prof. Danso-Boafo's present position as Ghana's Ambassador to Cuba was not listed. When questioned about it, he said the information in his resume was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee from a source other than himself that is why the information provided does not reflect his current position.

"The CV might have been submitted by somebody else, so the update is not there", he said.

Mr Kenneth Dzirasah, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Committee, intervened and said he requested for all relevant documents on nominees and explained that the CV was submitted before Prof. Danso-Boafo's appointment as ambassador to Cuba, hence the absence of that information in the document.

Prof. Danso-Boafo said there was no truth in a media report, which reported him as saying at the funeral of the late Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Kuntunkununku II that there had not been any development in Akim Abuakwa because the people had consistently voted for the opposition.

He told the Committee that the paper that carried the report later retracted it and published exactly "What I said".

"A correction was made, he said, adding, "when a mistake is made and an apology is rendered nobody pays attention to it".

The Minister-designate said he has the tapes of what he said.

"The reporter wrongly reported what I said. It does not in anyway reflect the truth of what I said".

Asked when he 'fell in love' with President Jerry John Rawlings when in 1992, he had campaigned for Prof. Albert Adu Boahen, the then presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party and was reported to have been a vociferous critic of the Rawlings regime.

Prof. Danso-Boafo replied, "I hope you are not mistaking Kwaku Danso, resident in Washington, for me".

Prof. Danso-Boafo explained that Prof. Adu Boahen was a colleague at the University of Ghana, Legon, where both of them lectured.

The Minister-designate holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science from Howard University, Washington D.C. and a Masters in Public Administration, from North-Eastern University, Boston, Massachusetts both in the United States.

He has been an Associate Professor and Co-ordinator at the School of International Affairs and Development, Clark University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Meanwhile Mr Charles Matey Akrasu Kpabitey, the President's nominee for Deputy Minister of Health, who was also scheduled to be vetted could not be heard.

Mr Dzirasah explained that it is a constitutional demand that the appointment of a deputy sector minister-designate should be in consultation with the minister and since the minister had just appeared before the committee and his nomination not yet approved by Parliament, Mr Kpabitey could not be vetted.

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Accra (Greater Accra) 2 Feb.2000

Sale of low cost houses classified under category three to sitting tenants will commence soon, Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah said on Tuesday.

He said the ministry has engaged consultants who are taking inventory of such houses after which valuation and Cabinet's approval would be sought to push the sale.

Mr Adjei Mensah, who was answering a question in parliament, said the consultants are expected to finish their work in March.

Mr Edward Osei-Kwaku, NPP-Asokwa West had quizzed the minister when he will take a decision on the sale of estates house at Ahensen Estate (Kumasi).

He said all estates houses listed under category one and two are not to be sold. They are to remain as duty posts for the ministries and organisations occupying them.

In 1973, the government constructed 6,565 low cost houses countrywide.

These houses were allocated to various organisation and individuals.

They were classified in compartments, category one for Ministries, Department and Agencies, Category two, Organisations, Institutions and Corporations and the third for private individuals.

He said in 1993, the government approved the sale of the said units but it was suspended because of a number of problems including misinterpretation of the deal.

On water, he said the government would be spending some 2.5 billion cedis under Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to send pipe-borne water to Mamponteng and old Tafo in the Ashanti Region.

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