Delegation from South African provision legislature calls on Speaker
Spio-Garbrah on loan scheme at SSS level
Tax waiver debate
suspended by Speaker
Two MPs return home from U.S tour
Delegation from South African provision
legislature calls on Speaker
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Mr. Justice Daniel Francis Annan, the Speaker, on Tuesday expressed the need for more interactions among African parliaments to help fashion out a common front for the continent to face the challenges of globalisation.
He said such contacts should provide the necessary forum for the legislatures to exchange ideas on how to add value to the continent's primary export commodities to make them more competitive on the world market.
Mr. Justice Annan, who was receiving a seven-member delegation from the Gauteng (Provincial) Legislature of South Africa, noted that the economies of many African countries are feeling the brunt of the prevailing unfavourable global economic order.
The delegation, which is in the country on a one-week study tour, is made up of members of the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Land Affairs of the Gauteng Legislature.
The Speaker welcomed the members and expressed the hope that their visit would deepen the already cordial ties between the parliaments of Ghana and South Africa and enhance future co-operation between the two countries.
Ghana, last year, hosted the plenary of the African version of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), which was aimed at strengthening democratic practice on the continent.
He expressed the hope that members of the delegation would have fruitful discussions with their Ghanaian parliamentary counterparts.
Mr. Pule Malefane, leader of the delegation said such cross-fertilisation of ideas was necessary for the promotion of understanding and co-operation among African countries in their common quest for economic, social and political development.
"It is better for us in Africa to understand each other in the spirit of south-south co-operation, before we look beyond our borders in all our endeavours", he said.
The delegation, which arrived in Ghana on May two, leaves for France on Friday for a similar visit
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Spio-Garbrah on loan scheme at SSS level
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, told Parliament on Tuesday that there are already in existence various financial interventions to assist all categories of students.
As such, " the government has not instituted and has no intention of instituting a 'loan scheme' at the senior secondary school level".
Mr. Spio-Garbrah was responding to a parliamentary question on "whether there is a possibility of a loan scheme at the SSS level to enable every child to acquire senior secondary school education".
He explained that the government awards "merit" and "hardworking" scholarships and bursaries to students and these are made available upon application to the Scholarships Secretariat through the heads of the schools.
He said that the district assemblies also provide scholarships to needy students who gain admission to secondary schools, adding that a number of institutions have also established various schemes to cater for children of their staff in secondary schools.
"Endowment funds like the Otumfuo Fund, are emerging to assist students and there is the possibility of future loan schemes being set up by financial institutions for parents to take advantage of", the Minister told the questioner, Mr. Victor Okulley Nortey, NPP-Ablekuma Central.
In an answer to another question standing in the name of Mr. Nicholas Appiah-Kubi, NDC-Jaman, Mr. Spio-Garbrah, said the National Accreditation Board (NAB) was awaiting an application from the Institute of Accountancy Training (IAT) to enable the board to review the accreditation status of the Institute.
Mr. Appiah-Kubi wanted to know when the IAT would be given its accreditation.
Explaining, Mr. Spio-Garbrah said that in 1997, the IAT wrote to the sector Ministry to grant tertiary status to the institute because its syllabus and entry qualifications had been upgraded.
He said the NAB consequently, set up a four-man accreditation panel of experts to assess the operations of the Institute.
The panel, he said, observed among other things that the curriculum of IAT was adequate for its diploma however, admission requirements were not clearly stated to cater for the different categories of students.
It recommended that the IAT's director and the deputy should be fully qualified professional accountants while it will require the employment of qualified accountants and post-graduate degree holders in accountancy as external examiners.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah said the Director of IAT, in his reaction to the panel's report, provided the admission requirements for both regular and mature students and indicated that some teaching staff were undergoing local and foreign courses in accountancy.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah told the House that at a subsequent meeting in 1997, the NAB noted that IAT was an in-service training institute for accounting staff in the civil and public services.
The Board, he said observed that the diplomas issued by the institute had not been given any recognition by the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICA) Ghana and that "graduates" from IAT are not given exemptions by the ICA from any of its examinations.
The Minister said in February 1998, the NAB advised the Director of IAT that ICA is the body empowered in Ghana to determine the equivalence of the IAT Diploma vis-a-vis ICA qualifications.
He said in a follow-up discussion with officials of IAT last year, the NAB advised the authorities of the institute to re-submit an application for a re-assessment of its operations.
"The NAB is standing by for the application to enable it to review the accreditation status of the institute", Mr Spio-Garbrah said.
Responding to a question on a 12 million-dollar World Bank loan made available to the Ministry and which the sector failed to utilise causing the bank to cancel the facility during the latter part of 1999, Mr Spio-Garbrah explained that the apparent non-utilisation of the credit was due to the fact that most of the expenditures were made in local currency and with the depreciation of the cedi over the period (July 1994 and December 1998).
He said the dollar equivalents of the expenditures kept on reducing, and thus, allowed the Ministry to make some savings on the amount of 12 million dollars.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah said plans were, however, made in April 1998 to procure additional items to utilise the savings after projections indicated that there would be the 12 million dollar-savings.
He said that it was then realised from the agreed procurement plan that these activities would go beyond the project closing date of December 31, 1998.
The procurements were re-scheduled and paid for under the Basic Education Sector Improvement Programme (BESIP), a World-Bank-funded project under the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) Programme, which closes in July 2001.
The Minister explained that the
sector received a 65 million-dollar credit from the International Development
Association of the World Bank in July 1994, for the Primary School Development
Project (PSDP) for a four-year project period (July 1994 to July 1998).
He said the credit life was
extended to December 31, 1998 adding that by the close of the credit on
December 31, 1998, a total of 53 million dollars had been disbursed on the
provision of the project components, including school pavilions, headteachers
bungalows vehicles and equipment.
On promotion of some personnel of
the Ghana Education Service (GES), to the grade of Principal Superintendent
with effect from September 1, 1996 to February 28, 1998.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah told the
questioner that "all promotions are to be substantive from the effective
date of the promotion."
He explained that within the GES,
however, a peculiar development occurred in recent times when for some years no
promotions were made in the Service.
He said that this resulted in a
huge backlog of officers due for promotion and to resolve the problem, a number
of officers who were previously promoted on different dates were invited for an
interview for promotion at the same time.
The Minister said to ensure that
officers did not lose out on their seniority, two dates were given to mark
their promotion.
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Tax waiver debate
suspended by Speaker
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr.
Justice D.F. Annan on Tuesday ordered the suspension of a debate on the waiver
on the corporate tax and income tax of the contractor and its expatriate
employees who executed the Tema-Akosombo road project.
The debate on 556 million cedi tax
waiver had barely started when moral, legal and constitutional issues were
raised by members prompting the speakers' intervention to halt it, while more
information is sought on the matter.
According to Commodore Steve
Obimpeh, Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Tema Akosombo road was executed
by Ways and Fretag, a German Firm, with a German loan which had clauses that
sought to exempt the contractor from certain relevant taxes.
He said Parliament had already
approved tax exemptions in 1998 for specified equipment, spare and materials
imported for the project.
"At the time, the value of
the contractor's corporate tax could not be immediately determined, as such the
resolution was silent on the grant of the value of the corporate tax
exemptions", he said.
Commodore Obimpeh said his
committee opined that under the terms of the agreement if the exemptions were
not granted then the contractor would pay the said tax and then be re-imbursed
with the additional mark-up of twenty per cent to cover the contractor's
pre-financing and administrative cost.
Mr. Yaw Safo Marfo, NPP-Oda, said
if the waiver is approved it would set a bad precedent.
He said under no circumstance
should a contractor's profit escape tax since he considers all expenses before
bidding for a contract. The member said under the laws of the land, only
investors are allowed to enjoy tax-free holidays for a specified period of
time.
Mr. Marfo argued that if the
waiver is granted, Ghana will lose one million dollars thus compounding its
capital flight problem.
He said even if it is an issue of
magnanimity the nation should better watch out because the contractor will not
escape the tax.
"The firm's country, Germany
has entered into a double tax treaty with Ghana."
Squadron Leader Sowu (retired),
NDC-Anlo, said the motion is a consequential one that is two years behind schedule
so it should be allowed to pass.
He opined that under the loan
agreement contracted for the project, all taxes were to be borne by the
borrower (Ghana).
On point of order, Mr Marfo
explained that the money whose tax is being debated is not part of the loan but
arouse out of the loan so if it is taxed there would be no breach.
Nana Akufo Addo, Minority
spokesman on Legal and Constitutional Matters, said what should be considered
is whether the waiver would be in the public interest or not.
He said as trustees of the people,
members of Parliament should always first consider what will benefit the people
before taking any stand.
The member opined that if the said
clauses were not well considered before the agreement was signed it is not too
late to reconsider them.
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Two MPs return home from U.S tour
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Two members of Parliament from the majority and minority sides who undertook a month's tour of the United States have returned home.
They are Mr. Sylvester Mensah, MP for Dadekotopon and Mr. Mustapha Idris, MP for Gukepgu-Sabongida.
They were selected by the U.S. Embassy in Accra and sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Parliament.
According to a joint statement issued by the legislators, the tour is an international visitor programme intended to introduce young leaders in Africa to the functioning of the executive, the legislature, the judiciary as well as civil society participation in governance.
The two held discussions with congressmen and congressional black caucus on wide range of issues of common interest.
They addressed a few city councils, students in high schools and U.S. national league of women voters.
The city of Kansas and New Orleans conferred honorary citizenship on the two MPs who also received certificates of participation from the United States' Department of State.
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