Nii Lante Vanderpuye apologises to Parliament

Mark Anthony Vinokor Jul - 16 - 2015 , 08:10

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, Thursday apologised to Parliament for his inability to attend to the House to answer questions filed by members.

Appearing before the House to answer an urgent question filed by the Member for Akuapem South, Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah, on the steps being taken to prevent floods in Accra and other regional capitals in the country, the deputy minister said the failure of the sector minister and any of his deputies to be present in the House last Tuesday was "due to circumstances beyond our control."

"Mr Speaker, it was not intentional," he said, and added that "It will never happen again."

He added that he travelled and arrived late hence his inability to appear before the House.

Although he apologised, the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, appeared stern with Mr Vanderpuye when he answered questions filed by members and demanded that he reacted verbally to inquiries which he had pleaded that he had no ready answers for.

Background

The speaker, last Tuesday, threatened to deal with the sector minister and his two deputies, if they failed to appear before the House yesterday.

He issued the threat after members of the House had drawn his attention to what members described as the blatant disregard for Parliament by some minsters of state.

The minister had failed to respond to calls to appear before the House.

The House was later informed that he had travelled outside the country but two deputies who were to stand in for him, both of whom are members of the House, failed to appear on three different occasions and offered no explanation for their absence.

Parliament considered this an affront to its authority.

Answers to questions

Answering the question of the Akuapem South MP, Mr Vanderpuye said one of the main challenges that had exacerbated flooding in the country's urban settlements was the blockage of water courses by unauthorised structures.

The problem, he added, had been compounded by the choking of drains through human activities such as throwing of garbage into open drains.

"The other issue is that most of the current drains we have in our system are unable to carry large volumes of storm water. These factors have culminated in the perennial flooding we experience over the years, especially in urban settlements," he said.

Addressing the challenges

Mr Vanderpuye said to deal with the problem, the ministry had directed all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to take the necessary steps to remove unauthorised structures on water courses that impeded the smooth flow of storm water to reduce the incidence of flooding.

As part of the National Sanitation Day Exercise, he said, drains were regularly desilted to allow for free flow of storm water and hence reduced the incidence of flooding.

The ministry, he noted, had also embarked on public education to sensitise the citizenry to the need to observe good sanitary practices such as littering and indiscriminate dumping of solid waste, especially in drains.

"As a medium to long-term measure, the ministry would also be collaborating with various MMDAs to come out with a policy to consider redesigning our drains to increase their capacity to carry large volumes of storm water and also cover those within the central business districts of Accra and other regional capitals," he said.

"Mr Speaker, notwithstanding the above interventions, our immediate focus is to clear all unauthorised structures on our water courses to save life and property," he added.

Further questions and speaker's interventions

Mr Amoah reminded the deputy minister that the House in 2012 approved a $660 million loan to construct drains in Accra under the Conti Project and sought to know what had happened to the money.

Mr Vanderpuye, in an answer, said the agreement was signed on behalf of the country by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development with the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing being the lead ministry.

He said that ministry would be in the best position to answer the question but the speaker intervened and asked him to provide the answer.

"Once your ministry was a signatory to the agreement, you should be able to answer, " he said.

Mr Vanderpuye then pleaded for more time to confer with the other ministries for the answer.

Asked by the member for Dormaa Central, Mr Kwaku Agyeman - Manu, whether the demolitions in Accra were planned demolitions or emergency destructions, Mr Vanderpuye declined to answer the question.

He explained that since the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, would be in the House to answer questions on the demolitions, he should be made to provide that particular answer. But once again, the speaker intervened.

"I have admitted the questions so answer, " he said.

The deputy minister said demolitions were carried out any time structures were sited on water courses.

Mr Adjaho then gave Mr Vanderpuye up to July 23, 2015 to provide answers on the Conti Project.