The report of President Akufo-Addo’s reaction to the unanimous decision taken by the Supreme Court, (SC) in its ruling on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers, should put the matter to rest is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the unanimous decision taken by the Supreme Court, (SC) in its ruling on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers, should put the matter to rest.
According to President Akufo-Addo, he was surprised by the furore that was generated on whether or not Deputy Speakers of Parliament could vote, once they were presiding in the chamber.
In an interview with the media yesterday on the sidelines of Dubai Expo 2020, the President stated that “as far as I can see it, and I think the Supreme Court has confirmed it, the matters involved in this are open and shut, they are black and white. There can be no dispute about the issues that the gentleman took to the Supreme Court.”
He indicated that Articles 102, 104 of the Constitution make it absolutely clear, “in black and white”, that the Deputy Speakers, when they are presiding have the right to participate in the vote of the Parliament.
“Indeed, and I believe that is part of the reasoning of the court, all the Legislatures of the world, where the presiding person is a Member of the Legislature, like our Deputy Speakers are, like the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States of America or the President pro tempore of the Senate in the United States, or the Speaker of the British Parliament have the right to speak because they are Members of the Assembly,” President Akufo-Addo said.
The newspaper says that the government is to undertake a $105m rehabilitation project from next month on three irrigation schemes to boost agriculture production in the country.
They are VeaandTono Irrigation Schemes in the Upper East Region and Kpone Irrigation Scheme in the Eastern and Greater Accra Regions respectively.
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr OwusuAfriyieAkoto, inaugurating the Board of the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) in Accra yesterday, said, the move was to enable farmers to easily access a water source for agricultural activities.
He said the Ministry had commercialised the use of the irrigation schemes to help in the repayment of funds secured for the rehabilitation works.
So far, he noted that, 14 companies had been enlisted and have taken up more than 3,000 hectares of land to be cultivated for commercial farming operations.
The Minister advised the Board, chaired by OseiOwusuAgyeman, to institute effective maintenance and management culture to ensure returns on the investment.
He said the government was expecting increased food production as a consequence of the investments in the country’s irrigation schemes and support Ghana’s transformation agenda.
Dr Akoto asked the Board to take stock and repossess all assets of the Authority which were currently being used by former staff, and work towards making the Authority financially independent.
He charged them to recruit the services of competent managers the schemes and institute strategies aimed at maximising expected outcomes.
On his part, Mr Agyeman said the Board would work to promote use of irrigation in all sectors of government’s agricultural programmes.
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Mrs Molly Phee, has said that it is difficult to say what the long-term economic impact of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine will be on Ghana’s economy.
This was her answer to a question this reporter posed during a digital press briefing last Thursday.
She said there could only be speculation about what the long-term effect would be, although there is acknowledgement of some immediate impact.
“I think it’s hard to say today what the long-term impacts will be. We can speculate together.”
Mrs Phee told journalists that the United States (U.S.) was opposed to Russia’s aggression and the use of unprovoked violence against Ukrainians but added the U.S. had not given up on the diplomatic path.
“We have not given up on the diplomatic path. We would prefer – it has always been our preference that there would be a diplomatic solution to this conflict. That is why we so strongly oppose the use of unprovoked violence against the Ukrainians,” Mrs Phee added.
On the issue of stabilising energy prices, she said there were ongoing efforts by the United States and other international partners to improve supply chains.
“There is a lot of discussion about how this action is affecting political alliances, it is affecting some sort of the relationships between the great powers.
The Graphic says that a Ghanaian oil and gas company, Geronimo Oil and Gas Services Company, has partnered an Italian project management, manufacturing and service company, Euroguarco, to build a factory in Ghana.
The partnership between the Geronimo Oil and Gas Services Company, a subsidiary of multi-national GMEA Group and Euroguarco, would provide solutions for companies and businesses in the fields of manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, construction, engineering and all heavy industries in the country and other West African states.
The factory is expected to provide hardware facilities such as sealing, piping, valves and insulation products for the oil and gas, petrochemical process, railways engineering and marine industries.
At the launch of the partnership in Accra last Wednesday, the Chairman of the GMEA Group, Charles Laba, said the establishment of the factory would bring substantial gains to industries, businesses and employment in the country.
He said the results of the partnership would particularly benefit the mining, oil and gas, engineering, construction and the manufacturing sectors.
He said the factory would afford companies and businesses in the oil and gas, mining, construction and engineering sectors the opportunity to procure the materials they needed for their operations locally without having to import them.
Mr Laba expressed concern that currently, there was no factory in the country that could provide the material and service solutions to the companies in the oil and gas, mining, and construction sectors, and that companies and businesses had to rely on imports.
“In the heavy industries — oil and gas, mining and the steel industries — anytime there is a need for the installation of a new process, they have to order the equipment from overseas,” he noted.
GIK/APA