ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
Reports that isolation and treatment centers are full make the situation all the more dire.
While government has prided itself with success in testing, and has attributed the high rate of infection to the increasing number of tests being conducted, many have expressed scepticism about the accuracy of government’s COVID statistics and gone as far as accusing the authorities of massaging the figures.
It is recommended by International Health experts that as countries start to ease restrictions, it is necessary to expand testing in order to understand the trajectory of the virus.
Unfortunately, a strange directive has popped up issued by the Central Regional Director of Medical Services requesting all districts and facilities in the region to halt mass testing and test only in conditions when a patient comes in with suspected symptoms of the disease.
This is interpreted by many as an attempt by government to restrict testing in order to show a slower rate of infection.
We all have a part to play – all of us – towards ensuring that we protect ourselves and our family and colleagues from infection.
But it is the responsibility of government, more than any other, to ensure that our management of the coronavirus is transparent, is people-centred and based on the best scientific advice and practice.
My brothers and sisters, health is a human right.
The outbreak of Coronavirus has shown that a strong healthcare system is vital for any country.
The provision of modern, well-equipped health facilities with motivated staff will make it easier for you and every Ghanaian to access quality healthcare.
The NDC party I lead has demonstrated over and over again that it does not talk, it delivers.
We are guided by deeds and action and not talk.
In our period in office at all times during the 4th Republic we have delivered state of the art regional hospitals, district hospitals, polyclinics, health centres and CHPS Compounds.
Evidence of our delivery abound all over the country.
If given the opportunity again by the grace of God and the will of the Ghanaian people, we will continue our aggressive roll-out of social infrastructure, making sure that every region has a modern regional hospital, and each district has a modern hospital facility depending on the demographics and population of its catchment area.
I will ensure that all our citizens have easy access to quality and efficient healthcare, anywhere in our country.
In my ‘LET’S TALK’ conversation with Bright Bell- and you can watch that on my Facebook page or on JohnMahamaTV on YouTube- he brought up the ‘Onuador’ mobile vans my administration introduced in 2015 and which have been left abandoned by the President Akufo-Addo administration.
These were vans deployed to provide medical outreach services – dental care, eye and optalmic care, mammography and general care etc.
– in underserved and hard to reach areas of the country.
As was noted by Bright, the vans have been left at the vagaries of the weather at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering compound at Korle Bu.
We would rehabilitate and expand the fleet of mobile clinics and make them available in all our 16 regions so that we can take health care to the doorsteps of all our people, even in the remotest areas of Ghana.
We will build a new “Onipa Nua” Hospital Ship and deploy it to provide medical services to the inaccessible riverine and fishing communities on the inland Volta water ways.
Ladies and gentlemen, my attitude during this pandemic has been to support Ghanaians including health workers with whatever I could mobilise and also to assist Government with ideas and possible solutions borne out of the technical advice offered by our team of experts and my own experience in government.
This has been my motivation all through.
That has motivated me, our party executives, parliamentarians and parliamentary aspirants and the NDC COVID-19 Team to move around communities to educate the people, provide essential items to our health workers and also distribute relief items to Ghanaians.
We have also offered many useful suggestions for consideration by government.
As the easing up of restrictions continue, it is the duty of government to Protect Health Workers, Students, Lecturers, Teachers and the Public at large.
I commend all health workers – doctors, nurses, field and laboratory staff, support staff including cleaners and orderlies – who are risking their lives to save Ghanaians from COVID-19.
I invite you to take a moment to think about the doctors, nurses and others whose samples are taken after exposure to patients who test positive for COVID-19.
Think about what they go through together with their families while they wait – in some instances more than a week – before they receive their results.
Just think about the anxiety alone.
I believe we can serve our gallant health workers better than we are doing.
They did not sign their death warrants when they swore their respective professional oaths to serve humanity.
We need to inject efficiency!
Government must take specific steps to curb the long waiting times, which in itself has contributed to the community spread of the virus – including spread at workplaces and among health workers.
We continue to hear reports of non-payment of promised allowances and incentives to healthcare workers.
It is difficult to understand the delay in such payments, considering that this was adequately budgeted for, and provision made, in the money that was drawn down from the Stabilization Fund with the approval of Parliament.
We must motivate our health workers by paying them a dignifying and commensurate compensation for risking their lives so that you and I can live.
I am aware that adequate supply of PPE to frontline workers remain a major challenge.
How does government expect them to work fearlessly if protective gear, including face shields, continue to be scarce commodities?
There are reports of health professionals having to buy such protective gear out of their own income.
How can a doctor or nurse examine a patient’s face or throat in this era of COVID-19 when PPE and face shields are not available?
I call on Government to expeditiously provide adequate and fit for purpose PPE to health workers to facilitate health care delivery, and to protect them from being infected.
Similarly, the education sector deserves attention.
I take note of the President’s promise to distribute adequate PPE and logistics to the schools as they are forced to re-open for limited academic work.
But we have been here before.
Lofty promises, which are never fulfilled.
We cannot continue on a trajectory where we talk more than take action.
Students on campus will need adequate supply of water, multiple handwashing points, sanitizers and prompt responses from the COVID-19 teams in the various districts if any suspected cases pop up.
I pray government does not to fail them and us, their parents.
I wish our dear students well in their examinations.
I also urge you to take personal responsibility for your health and safety.
Our lecturers and teachers must also be in our prayers and on our minds.
They are obviously going to be overly exposed to the virus.
Government should, therefore, not renege on the assurances it has given them.
I wish to reiterate my call for mass distribution of reusable masks to the general population.
Food vendors and others who provide services on campus live in the wider community.
If they do not use appropriate masks, they will spread the infection on campus and in their communities.
And we also need to begin to prepare now for the next academic year.
That is more important in the current scheme of things, than President Akufo-Addo’s overbearing desire to control and muzzle academic freedom in the few months left of his Presidency.
The Public Universities Bill is totally unnecessary.
I agree with the UTAG Legon branch that it is unconstitutional and only intended for the president and for that matter the executive to control the public universities.
The bill must be withdrawn from parliament immediately and the Universities allowed the space and time to prepare for the admission and management of first batch of Free SHS students, alongside the continuing students.
Two weeks ago, I stepped out to the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region where I visited New Pormu or Tusker fishing community.
I listened carefully to their concerns, both in the community, and during an interaction with the fishermen.
Beyond their pre-COVID 19 difficulties, which related to lack of premix fuel, unavailability of and the high cost of outboard motors and general excruciating socio-economic hardships, they also lamented the negative impact of the pandemic on their lives.
In all my interactions, during my community engagement sessions and digital conversations, hardships and socio-economic pain have been the worst complaints.
One cannot contest the genuine feelings of the citizenry considering the reality that President Akufo-Addo and the NPP raised the expectation of Ghanaians so high and have turned out to be abysmally disappointing in government.
It is only when failure stares you in the face that you make a distinction between vision and promise.
Ghanaians understood perfectly well what promises were made to them in 2016.
Today, you can cherry-pick the definition between vision and promise as much as you like, Ghanaians will take into the polling booth what their perception of what they believe constitutes the level of fulfilment of the promises you made to them before the last election.
As part of the alleviation of the effects of COVID on local businesses, I suggested a stimulus package to assist small and medium enterprises that had been affected already by the double whammy of government reneging on its contractual obligation to pay up on valid contracts entered into with indigenous suppliers and contractors and also the poorly thought-through and parochial financial sector clean-out.
All these have left many families and SMEs with their life savings and capital locked up in the closed banks.
President Akufo-Addo promised to refund the monies of all depositors in full.
Unfortunately, it appears that like almost everything else promised by his administration, it was all words and not backed up by deeds.
Depositors and investors were shocked to learn that they were only to receive a percentage of their deposits and have the rest placed in zero-rated five-year bonds.
What would be the value of their investments in five years’ time?
If government paid up on these deposits and investments, there would be no need for the stimulus package we are applying now.
We will present a programme for reinstating indigenous Ghanaian investment in the financial sector of our country.
In the meantime, it is my hope that the disbursement of the stimulus package will be guided by transparency and not applied to vote-buying in advance of the elections.
I call on the members of our honourable Parliament to call on the Finance Minister to present the Implementation document of this stimulus package to Parliament for approval, as he had earlier promised.
I support the call made by the Minority in Parliament for the Auditor-General should audit the account of how the money drawn from the Stabilization Fund it has been utilized.
It was most dishonest for a government official to suggest that a positive response from the Auditor-General will suggest that he is a puppet of the Opposition.
Our party has been in the vanguard of a fight to prevent the disenfranchisement of a wide swathe of the citizens of this country.
We recognize that our opponents are determined to suppress votes in areas of the country they deem not to be their strongholds, otherwise it is difficult to understand some of the restrictions being put in the way of a wider enfranchisement of all eligible Ghanaian voters.
We await the verdict of the Supreme Court and it is our hope that whatever verdict is given would be in the national interest to promote the wider participation of our citizens in our democratic process rather than a restriction to an elite few.
Following the easing of restrictions, I have requested our Functional Executive Committee to arrange a meeting of the Council of Elders and the National Executive Committee to finalize my constitutional obligation to consult on the choice of my running mate.
We have agreed on our 2020 Campaign team and will announce this shortly.
Our Manifesto committee is wrapping up its work and we expect to launch our 2020 Manifesto in August.
But even before the launch of the manifesto, I intend to begin a series of policy dialogues that will present to the Ghanaian public the main take-ways of our contract with the people of Ghana if by the grace of God and the will of our people we are given the opportunity to govern again.
Thank you, let me end it here and take your questions and comments.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you may be aware, the NDC, CPP, APC, LPG & GCPP last week Thursday, filed a suit against the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana in the Supreme Court over the Commission’s unlawful and unreasonable decision to restrict centres for the Limited Voter Registration exercise to their District Offices.
The PNC has subsequently thrown their weight behind the suit with the hope of joining same in the Supreme Court.
This suit was filed simply because the EC’s decision to restrict the centres of voter registration to their 268 district offices has the potential to deprive many eligible voters of their right to be registered as voters and to vote in public elections.
Pending the final determination of the substantive matter, the parties have duly filed an Application for Interlocutory Injunction in the Supreme Court to restrain the EC from proceeding with the announced limited voter registration exercise; which as you are well aware, the exercise commenced today, Tuesday, 12th September, 2023.
Even though registration has commenced, this suit at the Supreme court is only the first of a series of actions that we intend to take to compel the EC to conduct limited voter registration at the electoral area level to give all eligible voters access to the process in line with the letter and spirit of Article 42 and 45 of the 1992 Constitution, Regulation 2(1)(2) of C.I 91 and the EC’s own time-tested practices.
The basis of this suit are that; 5.
Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution provides that every citizen of Ghana, 18 years and above and of sound mind is entitled to be registered as a voter and to vote in public elections and referenda.
We firmly believe the EC’s decision to restrict registration centres to their district offices will deprive many eligible Ghanaians of their right to be registered as voters and lead to voter suppression.
Also, whereas Article 45(e) of the 1992 Constitution mandatorily enjoins the EC to undertake programs to expand the registration of voters, the EC’s decision to restrict registration centres to their district offices will reduce access to voter registration.
Hence contravenes Article 45(e) of the Constitution.
Again, the EC’s decision to restrict registration centres to their district offices violates Regulation 2(2)(b) of C.I 91 (Amended by C.I.
126) – the law that governs centres for voter registration.
Regulation 2(2)(b) of C.I 91 provides: “In designating a place as a registration centre, the Commission shall take into consideration the suitability of the place for use as a polling station on election day; and (b) the accessibility of the place to prospective applicants for registration.”
Given the fact that the district offices of the EC are not suitable for use as polling stations on Election Day, the decision by the EC to restrict voter registration to its district offices is not only unreasonable but unlawful.
Also, given the long distances that many eligible voters will have to travel and the exorbitant fares they will have to pay to transport themselves to district offices of the EC under the excruciating hardships Ghanaians are presently confronted with, the decision is insensitive, unreasonable, unlawful and unconscionable.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s instructive to note that Regulation 30 of C.I 91 enjoins the EC to revise the voters’ register annually and to do so at the electoral area level.
Yet, the Jean Mensah-led EC has violated the law in the last two years by not conducting any limited registration in 2021 and 2022.
This has created a huge backlog of about 2.8 million eligible persons including unemployed youth who are entitled to be registered.
This huge backlog is the more reason why the EC’s decision to restrict voter registration to their district offices is unconscionable and preposterous.
In 2019, the EC conducted limited voter registration in 1500 electoral area centres.
Why will the EC reduce this number of registration centres to 268 now that they have a huge backlog of about 2.8 million persons to register?
It simply doesn’t make sense.
This irresponsible and unconscionable decision of the commission confirms the NDC’s long held view that the Jean Mensah-led EC is determined to rig the 2024 elections through voter suppression.
But she will fail because we are ready for them.
Aside it’s potential to suppress registration and voting, the EC’s decision to restrict voter registration to its district offices can promote and facilitate gerrymandering as agents of political parties will find it difficult to challenge persons who may be bused from one constituency to another to register.
Ladies and gentlemen, in addition to the NDC, there are 4 other political parties who are plaintiffs in the instant case at the Supreme Court.
And as already indicated, the PNC has also thrown its weight behind the suit.
In fact, CODEO, Care Ghana and other stakeholders in our electoral space have all criticized this unreasonable decision of the NDC.
Apart from the ruling and corrupt New Patriotic Party, no other political party or stakeholder has supported this decision by the EC.
This clearly shows that the EC is the problem and not the NDC.
And we know the only reason why the NPP is supporting this unreasonable and unlawful decision is because they are the masterminds and sole beneficiaries of same.
In an unusual twist – when our lawyers filed the injunction application last week Thursday – we were informed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court that the due date for the Application for Interlocutory Injunction to be moved will be given on Monday upon the expressed instructions of the Chief Justice of our dear Republic of Ghana.
The decision by the registry of the Supreme Court to defer giving a hearing date for the injunction application on grounds that the Chief Justice is currently out of Accra leaves much to be desired as the CJ should have delegated someone to act in her absence as the practice is.
The administration of justice in our apex court cannot come to a stand-still simply because the Chief Justice is indisposed or unavailable to give hearing dates.
What happened to the e-Justice system the John Mahama led NDC administration toiled for?
This deliberate delay should not happen in any civilized country.
This is completely unacceptable!
This is yet again another clear evidence of judicial manipulation and we condemn it in no uncertain terms.
We are aware that the EC has also been served with two applications for injunction from Courts of Competent Jurisdiction, specifically the High Court.
Yet, the lawless Jean Mensah-led EC has decided to flout these injunction applications by going ahead with the registration exercise in flagrant disregard of the letter and spirit of the rule of law.
We wish to emphasise that the EC’s decision to proceed with the limited voter registration exercise today despite being served with two injunction applications from the courts contradicts an important precedent set by they themselves during the 2023 NDC Presidential and Parliamentary primaries when they publicly announced the suspension of their supervision of our primaries on grounds of a suit and injunction application filed by Dr.
Kwabena Duffour.
Why this inconsistency?
Ladies and gentlemen, notwithstanding these pending legal matters, the NDC is fully ready for the registration +exercise which was illegally commenced by the EC today.
Very ready.
But we care for the poor registrants who must cater for the cost and constraints of being registered to vote.
We currently have our agents and officers in all 268 district offices of the EC.
We are keenly and actively monitoring the process and will ensure that the manipulations of the EC & the ruling NPP calculated to suppress votes and rig the process are defeated.
NDC shall always stand and fight for the masses.
We therefore wish to call on all NDC officials at all levels, members, sympathizers and Ghanaians as a whole to encourage and fund and assist all eligible persons or prospective registrants to defy the EC and participate in the ongoing registration exercise.
Your vote is your power!
Don’t allow the Jean Mensah led EC to rob you of it no matter what.
Relatedly, we have outlined some discrepancies in the registration process which commenced this morning.
And we wish to share a few with you in order to jolt the EC into action.
We expect the EC to act swiftly in order to avert any further loss of confidence in the Commission.
Chairman, distinguished invited guests, media, ladies and gentlemen, let me appreciate the organizers for putting up this lecture.
Introduction I feel highly honoured but down spirited by this invitation to lead this lecture today.
Chairman, on the eve of our independence, our country was consecrated to the sacred and Immaculate hearts of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary.
This probably explains why Ghana has not experienced major mishaps.
The returns from such a consecration are normally inestimable as exemplified in the cases of the United States of America and Israel.
Against this background, where Ghana stands now is a cause for grave lamentation.
Ghana is heavily blessed in terms of natural and human resources so one is justified to ask: why the economic and social hardships?
That said, my mandate for this lecture as per my invitation letter is in terms of: Sharing my lived experiences with the Justice delivery system vi-a-vis public confidence in the judiciary.
How recent Judicial pronouncements and rulings portend for consideration of Ghana’s democracy.
This is against the backdrop that the African youth are increasingly losing hope in the democratic experiment and are manifesting same by pouring onto the streets to show support for military juntas who overthrow democratically elected civilian regimes.
Indeed, the flyer on this invitation is in even wider terms.
My lived Experiences Everything has a beginning.
When I was in form 2 in Notre Dame Secondary School, Navrongo, our Latin master put before us a number of mottos for our choice.
Some chose “Orando et Laborando’, ‘Fidelis in Parvo’, etc.
I chose ‘Justitia Omnibus and I still love it.
When I commenced my Private legal practice at Bolgatanga in the then Upper Region of Ghana, in August 1975, I soon realized that there was much corruption in the judicial system.
By the grace of God, I stayed out of it though it was very challenging.
In the web of the 1979 revolution, a neighbor of mine was badly brutalized by some soldiers and he sent for me to hear his story and see his condition.
Despite the heat of the revolutionary atmosphere, I issued a writ against them and they came to seek settlement.
Unsurprisingly their terms of settlement centered around smoking the peace pipe in the form of sharing a roasted fowl.
I rejected this and kept to the writ.
Unfortunately, their duties in Bolgatanga had ended and they immediately returned to Accra and my attempt to serve them with further court processes received no co-operation from their command structure.
After the 31 st December revolution, I was appointed chairman of the then Upper Regional Investigations Committee and subsequently also briefly, I was the acting special public prosecutor for the same region.
In the course of time, a flight-lieutenant from Accra came to Bolgatanga and asked why there were only a few cases for trial by the National Public Tribunal when it came to try cases in the Upper Region.