GRi in Parliament Ghana 08 - 03 - 2001
Victor Owusu eulogised in Parliament
NPP denies promising to create 750,000 jobs
Presidential jet can't go without
parliamentary approval - MP
Victor Owusu eulogised in Parliament
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 March 2001
Mr. Joseph Henry Mensah, Majority Leader, on Wednesday soberly eulogised Mr Victor Owusu, a presidential candidate in the third republic, in Parliament saying he was "a leader, a nationalist and my mentor".
The Leader of Government Business, who had attended a state burial service held for the renowned politician at the forecourt of the state house, told fellow legislators that "he was five years my senior in school and very well my mentor in Kumasi; he and a few others were models for us as youngsters".
In a statement christened "birth and death", he said the late Mr. Owusu could have stuck to his legal profession and made a fortune but rather chose to defend the freedoms and dignity of the ordinary Ghanaian.
"Victor Owusu was the most brilliant advocate of the legal profession in his time and he combined that with nationalism.
"He believed in the philosophy that we too must be free. He fought a great battle; he fought to the end.
"Death has been programmed into the human gene and at the appropriate time, the human machine is programmed to shut down. Yesterday, we celebrated the birth of our nation; today, we commemorate the death of Victor Owusu."
Mr. Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho Central, called Mr. Owusu "a brilliant lawyer who put himself at the disposal of his people".
"I went to the funeral, yes! I like attending the funerals of nationalists and what I learnt was what the preacher said 'death is not for those who have died but for the living'."
Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, said the state burial given to Mr. Owusu was a "fitting honour to one of the outstanding patriarchs of Ghana".
He said he used charisma and his unshakeable commitment to the values of liberal democracy to defend the weak.
"He was a victim of the Preventive Detention Act and other detentions but he braved them to defend liberty. It weakened him and made him physically a pale shadow of himself in his last days."
Nana Addo said Mr Owusu "sacrificed and we must all sacrifice for the nation; this has been the life of one of those who were pioneers of the journey that has brought us this far".
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Deputy Majority Leader, advised that "as we pay tribute to the one being described by all as a nationalist, we should remember to emphasis on ideas and deeds that bind us a people that those that divide us".
"When we are in disagreement with even our leaders, we should in justice to our conscience make that known and stand by it."
Mr Owusu's political life spans the entire political history of Ghana. He was a Foreign Minister and later Attorney General in Dr. Busia's second republic. In 1979, he led the defunct Popular Front Party (PFP) to the polls which was won by the late Dr Hilla Limann. Mr Owusu was 77.
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NPP denies promising to create 750,000 jobs
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 March 2001
New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in Parliament on Wednesday denied ever making a promise to create 750,000 jobs in the first 100 days of it coming into power.
This came up when Mr Ken Dzirasah, Second Deputy Speaker and MP for South Tongu, alluded to the issue during his contribution to the debate on the President's message on the state of the nation.
He said the NPP should fulfil its campaign promises to Ghanaians, including the creation of the 750,000 jobs.
Isaac Amoo, NPP Ayawaso West-Wuogon, rose to a point of order and challenged Mr Dzirasah to substantiate his claim because the NPP in its manifesto did not promise that.
The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, asked Mr Dzirasah to prove his point but Mr Dzirasah insisted that Mr Kofi Wayo, the defeated NPP parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso East, said it on a political platform during his campaigns when some big shots of the NPP were present and that the issue had not been denied.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Deputy Majority Leader, hammered that it was not an official stand of the NPP and that it was an ordinary member of the party who holds no responsible position.
The Speaker asked Mr Dzirasah to go ahead with his contribution even though the statement might not have come from a person supposed to make a policy statement on behalf of the party.
Earlier, Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, in his contribution, said the President's speech was full of hope and spelt out the freedoms the country has to enjoy under the NPP government.
He said it deviates from the earlier known speeches of the previous government where they have to give a number of telephones, roads and schools they have to build and which never were.
"The speech has made Ghanaians safe by seeking reconciliation and to reinforce the democratic institutions like parliament and outline the vision of a goal that would lead to positive change being yearned for," he said.
Nana Akufo-Addo said those describing the statement as empty and so on could not brace themselves for the sheer historic change that is taking place.
Mr Amos Buertey, NDC Ada, stated: "in seeking reconciliation, we should not be seen as raking old wounds that would do no one any good".
He said those suffering from ecological injustice at the Lower Volta Basin following the creation of the Akosombo Hydro Electric Dam should not be left out in the reconciliation package.
Mr Buertey wondered why the existing institutions like the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) should not be strengthened with resources rather than creating new structures, which would also have to be provided for in the face of the current economic situation of the country.
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Presidential jet can't go without
parliamentary approval - MP
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 March 2001
The Minority on Wednesday served notice that the over-flogged presidential jet cannot be sold without the involvement and approval of Parliament.
Mr Ken Dzirasah, Second Deputy Speaker and MP for South Tongu, who was contributing to a debate on the President's message on the state of the nation, said it was wrong for one man or any ministerial composition to sell the jet.
He said the purchase of the jet was regularised by Parliament on the strength of Article 181 (3) and (4) and Article 75 (2) sub-clause (a) and (b).
Article 181 deals with raising of loans by the government and Article 75 (2) states: "A treaty, agreement or convention executed by or under the authority of the President shall be subject to ratification by (a) Act of Parliament; or (b) a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of more than one-half of all the members of Parliament".
Following from this, the MP said it is only Parliament that has the final say on the disposal of the jet.
Mr Dzirasah said it was pathetic for the President to spend about four hours changing planes on official tours and leave urgent business at home unattended.
This brought Mr Ken Ohene Agyapong, NPP Assin North, to his feet on point of order, saying that in the absence of the President, the Vice-President performs the duty of the President and that what Mr Dzirasah was saying was to infer that the Vice-President was not competent.
The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, ruled the member out of order and said that Mr Dzirasah had the right to express his opinion.
Mr Dzirasah said Parliament as a legislative body has investigative and deliberative functions as well and that its deliberations on the President's sessional address was to evolve a policy that would help the ruling government and the nation.
He said that critical aspect was missing in the President's address, which was largely "a chronicle of NDC failures".
"By this means, the President was establishing an alibi for probable inefficiency of his government," Mr Dzirasah said.
"That Ghanaians found it comfortable to go with the increase in fuel prices was that the NPP, by such campaigns, has softened them into believing that the NDC has left a huge debt for them to pay," he said.
Mr Dzirasah said when the NDC wanted to raise fuel prices by 15 per cent last year, the opposition walked out and wondered how such people who are now in government could so soon forget the suffering of Ghanaians and increase fuel prices.
He said the previous government was subsidising fuel at six billion cedis a day and that had contributed to a part of the over-sung 41 trillion cedis debt to the nation.
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