APA – Accra (Ghana)
The report that the Parliament on Friday summoned the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to present to it details of the government’s debt restructuring programme for consideration is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that the Parliament on Friday summoned the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to present to it details of the government’s debt restructuring programme for consideration.
The directive by the Speaker of the House, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, followed a motion filed and moved by Minority Leader and MP for Ajumako/Enyan/Esiam, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, on Thursday, August 3, 2023.
Per the directive of the Speaker, Mr Ofori-Atta is to make the presentation to the Finance Committee of the House for a report on same to plenary when the House reconvenes from recess in October.
Moving the motion on the floor of the House, Dr Cassiel Forson argued that the Finance Minister ought to seek Parliament’s approval before restructuring debts because the House approved of those debts.
He anchored his argument on the decision by the government to write-off its indebtedness to the Bank of Ghana insisting that doing so did not lie in the mouth of the minister and the government by extension.
The newspaper says that the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) is set to roll out the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM) Policy in September this year, Deputy Chief Executive, NPA, Perry Okudzeto, has stated.
To be implemented in Accra and other selected parts of the country residents do not have to own a cylinder to use gas.
Gas users only have to pick up filled-up cylinders and pay for the content after registering with their national identity cards.
At a media briefing in Accra on Thursday, the planned implementation of the policy Mr Okudzeto said, would run side by side with the current distribution model until it was gradually phased out.
He said the inputs of the working committee which included LPG marketing companies who have been engaged in their several deliberations had been factored into the framework adding that there were no bottlenecks for the implementation of the programme.
“All industry players have been engaged and their ideas incorporated into framework which had been designed with their input and are ready to offer their support to ensure the success of the project,” he stressed.
Mr Okudzeto said the implementation of the CRM was to ensure that at least 50 per cent of Ghanaians have access to safe, clean and environmentally friendly LPG by 2030.
“It is also meant to improve access to LPG, improve safety in the distribution of LPG and to increase adoption as well as stop the unnecessary loss of lives and properties at gas filling stations, mostly due to human error,” he said.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has urged Ghanaians to take critical cue from political situations across the sub region and protect their democratic rights and principles.
Democracy, he noted, had brought peace, security and development to countries that had adopted it “because that is the only system that ensures sustainable and inclusive governance.
“It has not yet sank only in the people but also in the practitioners, they don’t still appreciate, they don’t understand, they don’t recognise, they don’t position that institution well and we have seen what is happening around us as a country. We need to take this seriously,” Mr Bagbin added in an apparent reference to the recent coup d’état in Niger Republic.
Mr Bagbin said Ghana adopted the multi-party democracy and the trend appeared that that people are losing faith and trust in parties.
The Speaker of Parliament made these remarks here in Takoradi in the Western Region over the weekend when he hosted the local press to a reception to herald a public forum to be held in Takoradi on Tuesday, to celebrate Ghana’s democratic credentials on the theme “30 years of Parliamentary democracy under the 4th Republic: The journey so far.”
It is for this reason, he implored the media as partners of the Legislature to educate the citizenry particularly to understand and appreciate the place and role of Parliament as the representative of the people.
The Speaker of Parliament said the media was a crucial partner for Parliament’s journey in consolidating democratic principles of fairness, responsiveness, inclusion and accountability.
He stressed that it is the reason the Consultative Assembly devoted much time on the media in the draft Constitution, adding that the 1992 constitution spelt out the role and functions of the media and guaranteed their rights and protection.
The Graphic says that the Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, has advised the public not to pay bribes to court officials who request money ostensibly on behalf of judges for favourable decisions.
She said oftentimes such money was actually not requested by judges or given to them, but merely served as a ploy by unscrupulous court staff to enrich themselves.
Justice Torkornoo consequently urged the public to report to the Judicial Service any court staff who would request money under the guise of conveying it to a judge.
She made the appeal at separate Chief Justice Community Sensitisation programmes at Akwatia in the Demkyembour District and Kraboa Coaltar in the Ayensuono District, both in the Eastern Region.
The programme is an initiative of Justice Torkornoo where she interacts directly with the public in communities to explain the work of the Judiciary and the basic principles of the law.
It is meant to demystify the work of the judiciary, and let the public have a better understanding and appreciation of the third arm of government.
Justice Torkornoo said cooperation from the public in reporting cases of bribe, as demanded by court staff, would help the Judicial Service to stop the despicable and unpatriotic activities of court officials who created a market of siphoning money from court users on the pretence of giving it to judges.
“Any court registrar, interpreter, clerk, recorder or any staff who asks for money to be given to a judge is a thief.
The truth is that in majority of these instances, the judges have not requested any money; the money does not go to them, and they are not even aware.
“Report such staff to the police and the Judicial Service.
We will investigate, and I will sack them if they are culpable and also ensure that they are decisively dealt with.
This is a bad culture destroying the image of the Judiciary, and we are determined to stamp it out,” she said.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press focuses on Parliamentary summons on Finance Minister over debt restructuring, others
