9 Ministers to answer questions on national concerns

Nine Ministers of state are scheduled to appear before the House this week to answer questions on a number of issues bordering on various national concerns.

The ministers are to respond to 53 questions — two being urgent and 51 orals — this week.

The ministers are the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor; the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Dan Botwe; the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, and the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu,

The others will be the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum; the Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah; the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta, as well as the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh.

This was made known when the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, presented the business statement for the sixth week ending Friday, July 1, 2022.

Also appearing in the House this week will be the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, who was directed by the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, to appear and brief the House on the developments concerning the installation of pre-paid meters in the Krobo area.

Questions and answers

Per the business statement presented for the entire week, Mr Jinapor will be in the House on Tuesday to answer some national and constituency specific questions being sought after by his colleague MPs.

They included a question by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Adaklu, Kwame Governs Agbodza, who will want to know if the government compulsorily acquired landed properties that form the site on which the National Cathedral is being built, and if so, whether the government has fully compensated the previous owners as required by law.

The minister will also provide an answer to a question by the NDC MP for Tempane, Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, on the state of the five million trees planted on June 11, 2021 on Green Ghana Day and what was the total cost for the project as well as a question by the NDC MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, on how much money has been paid and to how many verified claimants exist as far as the Tema -Akosombo -Mpakadan Railway Project is concerned.

Bills

On the same day, two bills—the Ghana Hydrological Authority Bill, 2022, and the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2022—will be taken through consideration stages for the third reading on Wednesday.

Wednesday will see Mr Ussif, responding to a question by the NPP MP for Okaikwei South, Dakoa Newman, on when the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex, now Youth Resource Centre of Excellence, will be completed as well as a question by the NPP MP for Old-Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, on the progress of the construction of the University of Ghana Sports Stadium for the 2023 All African Games.

Urgent questions

On Thursday, Mr Agyeman-Manu, the Minister of Health, and Mr Dery, the Interior Minister, will furnish the House with responses to two urgent questions standing in the name of the NDC MP for Keta, Kwame Dzudzorli Gakpey.

The MP will want to know from Mr Agyeman-Manu the measures taken by the Food and Drugs Authority to address the fallen standards of palm oil on the local markets, as well as from Mr Dery the steps the ministry is taking to curtail the ethnocentric treatment meted out to Maryam Sulemana by an immigration officer by name Wilson Dela Atieku at the Tema passport office.

The Minister of Education, Dr Adutwum, will also respond to a question by the NDC MP for Builsa South, Dr Clement A. Apaak, if all the 766 critical senior high school projects—classrooms, dining halls, dormitory, laboratory—hitherto uncompleted, have been completed with the disbursement of the first tranche of the $1.5 billion approved by Parliament in 2018

Dr Adutwum will also answer to a question on what interventions the ministry is putting in place to cater for the large number of students who obtain grades D7 and E8 in core subjects and hence are unable to gain admission to universities. This question stands in the name of the NPP MP for Dormaa East, Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah.

Lastly, Friday will see the NDC MP for Tamale Central, Murtala Muhammed Ibrahim, asking the Transport Minister whether proper procurement laws were followed in the award of the contract between the government of Ghana and Frontline Health Services as well as the contract between Frontline Health Services and the First Atlantic Bank for the purposes of collecting the charges for the COVID-19 tests at the airport