GRi in Parliament Ghana 23 - 03 - 2001
Parliament House is not "disabled
friendly" - Sarfo
Change name of Manpower Ministry -
Baidoe-Ansah
Women Caucus in Parliament condemn seduction
of girls
Every region deserves good roads -
Adjei-Darko
Ghanaian missions abroad to have a new look
- Foreign Minister
Parliament House is not "disabled
friendly" - Sarfo
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March 2001
Mr Kwaku Sarfo, Member of Parliament for Offinso South, on Thursday deplored the architecture of the Parliament House saying it does not allow most handicapped persons access to the place.
The Parliament building has only one main public entrance that can be accessed through a three-meter high three-tie staircase. The electric drive elevator located in the building is almost always broken down, he said.
The member was contributing to a debate for the approval of budgetary allocations for Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment.
He lamented; " I have a lot of friends who would like to come here but this very structure puts them off."
Mr. Sarfo called for a national policy that would make it mandatory for the designing and construction of public places to be "disabled friendly."
"The life of a disable person in Ghana is a sad one. Most are kept as a family secret. Most do not go to school and the few that are fortunate are plucked off half way, they do not get far."
The member said society has made disabled persons worse off compelling most of them to line up the streets to beg for alms.
He criticised the curriculum of special schools saying they only place emphasis on basket weaving and door mat making.
Mr. Sarfo called for a more purposeful curriculum to enable the disabled integrate well into a global society where information technology is the driving force.
GRi…/
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Change name of Manpower Ministry -
Baidoe-Ansah
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March 2001
Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, Member of Parliament for Effia Kwesimintim, on Thursday called for the change of the name of the Ministry of Manpower and Employment to reflect the evolving gender trend in the country.
"Human Resource development and Employment is far better, since the word "manpower" is too masculine and may put many a female off,"
The member was contributing to the 2001 budgetary allocations to the ministry that stands at 19.9 billion cedis.
Mr. Baidoe-Ansah said the ministry should encourage well meaning non-governmental organisations that would want to help the poor and the under- privileged.
Mr. Kosi Kedem, NDC-Hohoe South, urged the ministry to cede its supervision of pre-school education to the Ministry of Education.
"The ministry has a lot to do and I think with the creation of a special ministry for Basic Education, Secondary and the Girl-Child within the educational set up, pre school should go to its proper place."
He asked the ministry not to sideline Ghanaian consultants in the formulation and implementation of its programmes.
Mrs. Cecilia Bannerman, the sector Minister, said her ministry would implement a Manpower Master Plan this year to accelerate skill acquisition by the youth.
She asked all ministries and departments to include employment generation programmes in their overall short to long-term development plans.
Mrs. Bannerman announced that a labour code bill would soon be presented for parliamentary scrutiny.
GRi…/
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Women Caucus in Parliament condemn
seduction of girls
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March 2001
The Women Caucus in Parliament on Thursday condemned the action of a teacher alleged to have seduced seven girls and impregnated one, saying they abhor all the actions taken so far in the settlement of the case.
In a press release issued at Parliament, they stated: "as law makers, we would recommend that the law is allowed to take its due course and the culprit must be taken to court and dealt with accordingly".
The release said the caucus' attention had been drawn to an article in the 'Ghanaian Chronicle' of February 19 in which a teacher was alleged to have seduced seven girls and impregnated one on whom an abortion was carried and an amount of 1.5 million cedis was paid to the parents of the girl.
The Women Caucus said they considered as very abhorring the action of the teacher who defiled the young girls as well as that of the police who allowed an out-of-court settlement of the case.
They said the article does not say whether the man has been tested for AIDS, and recommended that the teacher and all the girls be tested for AIDS.
The women said they viewed with serious concern the conduct of the wife of the teacher who allegedly caused the abortion for one of the children, the stand taken by the police, the Methodist Church and the parents of the girl.
They recommended and congratulated the bold decision of the wife of the Reverend Minister who insisted that the matter be settled in court considering the grievous nature of the offence.
In the view of the Women's Caucus "no amount of money can compensate for the heinous crime that has been committed and we will continue to follow with keen interest the outcome of the case".
They advised the Methodist Church, including Bishop Asante Antwi, to take appropriate action to bring the teacher to book.
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Every region deserves good roads - Adjei-Darko
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March 2001
Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Roads and Highways, on Thursday said henceforth the construction of roads would not be determined so much by traffic count.
"We, as a government, believe that where there are people there must be roads. We intend to make at least one good road in every constituency before our term ends."
The minister was moving for the approval of the budgetary allocation to his ministry, which stands at 680.3 billion cedis.
He said in line with the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), his sector has prepared a three-year Road Sector Development Programme (RSDP) to guide the construction and maintenance of roads in the country.
"The prime objectives of the RSDP in the medium term include the clearance of the backlog of road condition mix of 70 per cent good, 20 per cent fair and 10 per cent poor by 2005."
He said the programme would also improve on the capacity of the road sector to sustain road maintenance operations, financing and management.
Mr Adjei-Darko announced that the RSDP has an in built mechanism that would help avoid duplication among donors and government sectors.
He said eight trunk roads, including the Accra-Yamoransa, Achimota-Anyinam and Gyato Zongo-Yeji roads, had been listed under the RSDP.
Mr Adjei-Darko said the recent increment in the fuel levy from 150 cedis per litre to 230 cedis would raise accruals to the road fund to 326.4 billion cedis in 2001, adding that 255 billion cedis accrued in 2000.
He said enough provision had been made under discretionary payments to clear some of the existing arrears.
The Minister lamented that young engineers are leaving the Ministry due to poor motivation.
"A serious management gap is looming at the road sub-sector. This drift is due to the fact that donors are supporting other road projects and programmes outside the ministry."
He said donors are still interested in specific projects and not fully supporting the sector programme.
Mr Adjei-Darko called for the expansion of the capital base of the road fund to avoid a situation where a drastic change in fuel prices can affect the performance of the fund.
Members sympathised with the ministry for its "meagre" allocation and pledged their collective support for the Minister.
Mr. Edward Salia, NDC-Jirapa, appealed that all regional capitals be connected with good roads.
He asked government to expand the road network in such a way that conditions of the roads would no longer determine the treatment a traveller gets at crossroads.
"In some places those who arrive with dust on their clothes and bodies are treated differently from others who are fortunate to travel on tarred roads.
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Ghanaian missions abroad to have a new look
- Foreign Minister
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 March 2001
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on Thursday gave the assurance that government has charged Ghanaian foreign missions to have a new look and offer their utmost services to Ghanaian citizens abroad.
He said complaints by Ghanaians abroad of treatment meted out to them by mission staff will now be addressed to enable them to contribute towards the socio-economic development of the country.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said this when he moved for the approval of his ministry's budget estimates of 165.4 billion cedis in Parliament.
He said even though the estimates fell short of what was originally requested, he called on the House to favourably approve it.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said during the fiscal year, the ministry will endeavour to project and protect Ghana's image and visibility abroad, provide effective and efficient consular and legal services and participate effectively in multilateral negotiations with other
international organisations for a just international order.
The ministry is also to co-ordinate and promote Ghanaian exports, attract foreign investments, tourism and seek scientific, technological and cultural links between Ghana and other states "as a major plank of our economic policy".
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said the shortfall of 26.8 billion cedis would no doubt impose several operational constraints on the ministry and its 41 missions abroad.
He said, however, that the situation would be worsened with the realisation that over the past five years the Ministry of Finance only released about 50 per cent of its allocations.
The minister said it was regrettable that due to lack of funds, most of Ghana's Joint Commissions had been dysfunctional or moribund and thus the sustenance of such commissions and the establishment of new ones would suffer in the absence of requisite financial resources.
Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, MP Bimbilla, in support of the motion, stressed the need for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work extra hard to win back the past glory of the country following the lowering of its image by being declared a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC).
He said the payment of the requisite foreign monies or cedi equivalent components to international organisations was necessary for the effective participation in conferences.
Dr Chambas cautioned against the tendency of the country reneging in the payment of its contributions.
"We must also review and utilise some proportion of our collection at the missions accounts to take care of emergencies and other developmental needs."
Mr. John Akologu Tia, MP Talensi, said it was regrettable that nothing had been said in the budget on staff recruitment of the ministry.
Most of the members expressed concern about the delays and dubious activities at the passport office and the lack of enough attention to the All Africa Students Union (AASU).
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