ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
One concern for Members is their personal safety and security and the general security in the country.
President is aware of the unfortunate murder of our colleague Member for Mfantsiman.
We are still waiting upon the Police to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crime to justice.
Your Excellency, we have called on you, through your Minister for the Interior, for Members of Parliament to be provided police protection which you have generously agreed and for which we are grateful.
This request, unfortunately has been misunderstood by the Ghanaian public.
Let me restate that this request is in line with the condiitions attached to other public office holders under Arficle 71 of the Constitution such as Ministers of State, Justices of the Superior Court, Chairpersons and their Deputies of the Electoral Commission and CHRAJ, among others, We are therefore not asking for anything more.
It is our prayer that this would be implemented as soon as possible to avert any similar unfortunate event.
§ i We are further appealing to you, as Commander-in-Chief, to ensure the safety and security of every Ghanaian going into the elections.
The recent spate of armed robberies, coupled with some unresolved murders, gives course for worry.
Your Excellency, above all, we need assurance that the upcoming elections will be peaceful and that this country will stand united even after the polls.
In conclusion, Your Excellency, it is often said that a nation that does not honour its heroes isn't worth dying for.
| have no doubt, and your Exceliency will agree with me, that there are some trail blazers in our pariamentary joumey under this Fourth Republic who deserve some honour.
Mention can be made of Rt, Hon.
Justice D.F.
Annan, Rt.
Peter Ala Adjetey, among others.
It is therefore imperative that some of these edifices are named after them fo inspire those who came or will come after them.
It is for this reason that | will propose for the consideration of the House, for the Tower Block (Job 600) to be named after Rt.
Hon, Justice D.F.
Annan and the Administration 8lock to be named after Rt.
Peter Ala Adjetey in view of the respective roles played by the two former Speakers in the renovation and construction of the two projects.
STATEMENT BY AMA POMAA ANDOH, MP FOR JUABEN DOUBLE SIDES TO ELECTRONIC WASTE IN RURAL GHANA Thank you Mr Speaker for this opportunity to make a statement on electronic waste(e-waste) in rurat Ghana.
Mr Speaker, electronic waste is building up in my constituency and has become a nuisance to the community but when managed properly could be of immense social and economic benefit for same.
Mr Speaker for a rural community like mine and due to the poverty level, the people can only afford used electronic gadgets like TVs, Fridges, mcbiie phones, batteries etc most of which end up not being used at all and tend to be waste.
In many instances the only visible part of an electronic product is its outer shell.
Uniess that casing is broken, we rarely see the myriad circuit boards, wires and electronic connections that make the device actually function.
But it is those inner mechanical organs that are valuable yet so toxic.
If these electronic devices are not properly disassembled for proper disposal, they can leak and contaminate their immediate environment, whether that's in a fandfill or on the streets within the'community.
Over time, the toxic chemicals of a landfill's e-waste can seep into the ground (possibly entering the water supply) or escape into the atmosphere, affecting the health of nearby communities.
However, electronic waste contains 40-50 times the amount of gold in ore mined from the ground, according to a report by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative and the United Nations University.
According to the report, between 2001 and 2011, the electronics industry as a whole went from using 197 to 320 tons of goid.
Everything from blenders to toy dinasaurs have microchips, most of which have some gold.
Nevertheless, not more than 15% of the guld in e-waste is being recovered in recycling processes.
We are throwing away a lot of gold and wasting energy and resources in mining the ore.
Our future feaders, our youth, in some of our mining communities die daily using unconventional means of mining goid whilst destroying our environment and wasting resources through ‘galamsey’ 1 operations.
In the process of mining ore such as this, trees are cut down, mountzins are leveled and rivers are poliuted.
On top of that, the carbon footprint is increased with the material being delivered to Europe, Asia and the Americas.
This is before the metal has even gone through the manufacturing process.
Mr Speaker, if this so called e-waste is properly managed and recycled by trained rural youth here in Ghana, a lot of the metals inside these electronic devices can be recovered through conventional means instead of through ‘galaméey’.
It is said that the amount of metal in a cell phone amounts to around sixty times more than in ore.
So we can produce metal, which is the same quality as mined metal, in Ghana, just by collecting metal from these devices, without having to cut down trees or flatten mountains.
The world's gold deposits are predicted to fast for only another 19 years, but we must try to prolong the longevity of these goid deposits for as long as possible by adopting this type of recycling system.
Recycling 100% of the metal obtained from ore can reduce the environmental load to one three-hundredth the load created by mining.
For example, around 10 tons of ore are needed to make a gold ring that weighs 10 grams, but only <0.037 tons are needed if the gold from cell phones is recycled.
Mr Speaker, I have not even touched on the benefits from the plastics that come with these electronic devices.
Across Africa the technology market is predicted to grow by over 8% a year for the next three years.
This is great news for the region, but comes at a cost, E-waste in Ghana is growing about 20% each year due to rising sales of electronic goods and legal and illegal imports of second hand and surplus equipment.
E-waste on the one hand can cause great harm to the environment, but on the other, can be used as a resotirce and an economic stimulus, The necessary attention must therefore be given to the rural youth especially the youth in the Juaben constituency through the creation of “green” jobs through responsible recycling.
There is the immediate need for a drastic policy shift and action.
Mt Speaker
STATEMENT BY HON.
PETER KWAKU AMOABENG — GOOD ROADS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Mr.
Speaker, roads are one of the most important facilities for a country.
They promote the growth of the economy and facilitate smooth communication, and bring convenience to the doorstep of travelers, Effective road network facilitates the carting of goods from the harbours to the hinterland.
Similarly, farm products are also transported from the farm gates to the marketing centers.
Lack of good road network in a country therefore is a factor to stagnation of the economy under development and constitutes an inconvenience to commuters.
Roads, whether trunk, urban or feeder have their unique roles to play in the communities that they may be.
For these reasons it is the burning desire of every government to build long fasting roads in their countries.
Speaker, one cannot fathom what would have been the plight of residents of Accra and Tema who cbmmute daily between the city and the harbour city if the 20 kilometer motorway was not built by Osagyefo Dr.
Kwame Nkrumah during the first Republic.
The importance of good road network in this country is very crucial and must be taken seriously.
The deplorable state of the Accra-Cape Coast road and the poor road network in the country brings to focus the Tema motorway roundabout — Aflao road.
Upper East and Upper West regions which are crying for the roads to be constructed and indeed, not only to be constructed for that sake but should be constructed for the sake of protecting human lives on the roads through drastic reduction in accidents.
Speaker, the roads should be constructed to last between 15 and 20 years for the country to derive maximum benefits from whatever investment may be put in them.
Speaker, the Daily Guide, Wednesday October 31% 2001, “suggested that if huge amount of money could be used to construct one stretch of road which could last for 30 years, then it would be in the interest of the country rather than using the loan to construct several roads that will be washed away by rain after 10 years.
In some cases, the roads fast less than two years especially most of the roads constructed by our own local contractors compared with those constructed by expatriates such as CP, Taysec, Sonitra etc”.
Speaker, good road network in every country is very essential for its developments and progress.
This Government is on course that His Excellency the president has taken good road network in this country as a crucial priority to be implemented and I congratulate him for his vision.
SALIFU MARY BOFORO — MP FOR SAVELUGU CONSTITUENCY AND CHAIRPERSON ON WOMEN CAUCUS OF PARLIAMENT TO MARK THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (25" NOVEMBER) Madam Speaker, I wish to express my profound gratitude to you for giving me the opportunity to make this statement to commemorate the 10t Anniversary of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which falls today, November 25, 2009.
Madam Speaker, violence against women is said to be any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, arbitrary deprivation of iiberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.
It includes sexual, physical, or emotional abuse by an intimate partner; physical or sexual abuse by family members or others; sexual harassment and abuse by people in authority; traffici-:ing for forced labour or sex.
Violence agai;mst women also occurs in traditional practices such as forced or child marriages and dowry- .
related violence.
Madam Speaker, systematic sexual abuse in conflict situations is another form of violence against women.
The World Health Organization’s |Wi{0] survey in some countries across the globe this year indicates that, between 15% and 71% of women reported physical ot sexual violence by a husband or partner.
Equally unfortunately, trafficking of women and girls for forced labour and sex is widespread.
In Ghana like many African countries Madam Speaker, the status of women has been determined by the kind of girlhood they have had.
Traditional values, cultural norms as well as socializing processes, all appear to bestow a low status on the girl child and low status on women.
Pagelof3 In fact, the whole of the woman’s life is governed by customary, legislative and religious laws which are often very discriminatory in marriages, divorce and inheritance (case of the widow), and support the perpetration of gender violence.
Madam Speaker, the right of the husband to correct his wife is condoned in customary law and domestic violence considered as a family affair.
Violence against women in most case goes unreported.
Majority of these victims are afraid to lose their marital status, whilst some are very ignorant of their rights.
For others, they will prefer to die under such tortures because they have no other means of subsistence.
Madam Speaker, widows and battered women remain very vulnerable, miserable, marginalized and often rejected by their families or in-laws.
They remain traumatized in their various difficult conditions or survive by chance.
Such inhuman practices inflicted on widows in some, West African countries include: Sleeping on the bare flofits, mats or leaves, eating from the floor or on leaves, forced to drink the water used in cleaning the corpses of their late husbands to prove that they are innocent of their death.
Madam Speaker, these harmful attitudes towards women are reinforced by certain religious and other community leaders, who exhort women to stand by their husbands under all cireumstanceé, while at the same time failing to take a clear stands against wife battery and marital rape.
Also rape of underage girls by men within the family circle, such as brothers, fathers and stepfathers remains a big problem in the society.
In the area of culture Madam Speaker, some communities still practice Trokosi, an outlawed custom which involves ritual servitude and sexual exploitation of girls.
Page2o0f3 There is constant disregard of the law against Female Genital Mutilation {FGM) which is still prevalent among several ethnic groups, although the law that criminalized the act in 1994 was further strengthened in 2007 by Parliament.
Some women are still branded as witches and are often violemtly driven to witches' camps.
Madam Speaker, the consequences of these inhuman acts are indeed worrisome.
Aside the reproductive and maternal health problems, many women die and properties are being confiscated.
I call on all Ghanaians and other stakeholders to collaborate effectively with us to act accordingly, and where necessary, compel the customary system to fully respect the rights of women and girls enshrined in our Constitution and laws.
In particular, government and other relevant actors must denounce publicly, all _ forms of violence against women and girls including marital rape, wife beating, child and other forced marriages, trokosi, FGM and humiliating widowhood rites.
More crucially Madam Speaker, gender-sensitive media reporting must also be promoted to avoid stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes towards women, and ensure respect for victims and their families when covering incidents of violence against women.
As citizens, we owe it a duty to respect the rights of the human, without regards to gender.
I believe this virtue can help us secure the future of humanity and make the world a better place to live in.
Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity.
Page 3of3
URGENT STATEMENT POLICY STATEMENT ON THE GHANAIAN ECONOMY (PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT ON MONDAY, 15" APRIL, 2014) INTRODUCTION .
Speaker, I appear before you today to provide you with a consolidated set of measures that we have been using to manage our economy—to correct the imbalances that have océiiied il fecent yedrs and to lay the foundation for~ transforming the structure of the economy.
2 Since my appearance before this august House in November 2013, several developments in the economy-~particularly the sharp depreciation of the cedi in the first quarter of 2014, rising interest rates, and the adverse global environment on commodity prices, have posed challenges to the achievement of the 2014 economic programme.
Similarly, business leaders, civil society, social and development pariners have raised pertinent issues regarding economic management and implementation of various policies.
Several of the measures are structural and address the medium-tetm prospects of the country.
As will be shown, the measures are far-reaching and it is our expectation that they will clarify the commitment of Government and the people of Ghana in bringing the imbalances that have occurred in recent ycars under control.
RECENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS AND MEASURES 5.
However, the economy had come under severe stress particularly on the fiscal front, on account of exceptional factors including: i implementation challenges associated with the single-spine wage policy initiated in 2007 to correct distortions and inequities in the public sector wage structure; ii.
Wsrignificant shortfall in grants from De{zelopmcnt Pafiners; iil.
non-realisation of projected revenue from the oil companies, due mainly to shortfall in projected output in 2011 and 2012; iv.
larger-than expected petroleum and utility subsidies; v. higher interest costs arising from the steep tise in short term domestic interest rates— vi.
the continued disruption in gas supply to the country from the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) that led to a substantial increase in subsidies.
To improve revenue performance and support the fiscal consolidation effort, in July 2013, Government introduced the following revenue measures: i.National Fiscal Stabilization Levy - levy of 5% of profit before tax of banking, insurance, other financial services, communication, and brewery sectors with a sunset clause to end at the end of 2014; ii.Special Import Levy of 1 and 2 percent on some imported goods; iii.
Environmental tax of 10% on plastic to broaden the base; and iv.Import duty of 20 percent and VAT on imported mobile handsets.
Speaker, these revenue measures yielded revenue equivalent to about GH¢168 million or 0.2 percent of GDP in 2013 and are expected to vield GHg630 million or 0.6 percent of GDP in 2014.
Speaker, in addition to the revenue mcasures, expenditure rationalization measures were introduced for purposes of achieving the fiscal target for the year, namely: i Regular adjustment of fuel and utility prices to achieve better targeting and thereby reduce related subsidies to the barest minimum; i Minimizing waste in expenditure on goods and services and capital; iii.
Moratorium on the award of new contracts and contracting new loans with a change in focus to pipeline items; iv.
Refinancing of short term expensive debt with a view to extending the maturity dates and reducing interest costs; v. Provision of matching funds to fast-track disbursement of existing loans; and vi.
Processing of all GoG expenditures on the Ghana Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) and classifying them under a revised Chart of Accounts for all government transactions.
This was due mainly to the following factors: i, shortfall in tax revenue resulting from lower domestic output and import levels as well as a decline in commodity prices on the world market, notably gold and cocoa; ii.
continuous shortfall in grants from Development Partners relative to the budget target; iii.
overrun in the compensation or personal emoluments comprising wages, gratuities and allowance (and including arrears to all these categories); iv, overrun in subsidies due mainly to the payment of arrears; and v. overrun in interest costs, due mainly to financing of the deficit and past issues of bonds to complete capital projects that were placed on the Budget.
We have also highlighted the fall in gold and cocoa prices as major causes of the decline in ouiput.
Inflation surged in 2013 mainly on account of the adjustment of prices on petroleum and utilities as well as pass-through effects of exchange rate depreciation, the latter reflecting a general weakness of external sector developments in 2013, After beginning the year at 10.1 percent, inflation ended 2013 at 13.5 percent against the target band of 942 percent.
15, Mr.
Mr, Speaker, the economy has been through several external shocks that were often beyond our control.
Their management, however, was done through the use of well-considered fiscal and monetary tools, some of which are innovative and also designed to help manage future volatilities MACROECONOMIC PROGRAMME FOR 2014 7.
18, The revenue measures sought to broaden the tax base and thus spread the burden of national development on all of our citizens rather than the few who meet their tax obligations.
In this regard, the following revenue measures are being implemented: i. increase of the VAT rate by 2.5 percentage points and a broadening of the VAT base to cover fee-based financial services and real estate - to reflect its essence as a tax on all consumption expenditures; ii.
achange in petroleum excise tax from specific to ad valorem —~ in line with other excise regimes; i, an increase in withholding tax on rent on commercial propetties from 8 to 15 percent — to encourage the provision of residential accommodation; iv.
an increase in the withholding tax on management and technical services fees from 15 to 20 percent — to make the overall tax regime fairer to all taxpayers; v. an increase in corporate income tax rate of free zones companies selling on the local market from 8 to 25 percent — to prevent discrimination against firms marketing all their output on the domestic market; and vi.
more effective application of the communication service tax.
Together with ongoing improvements in revenue administration, these tax measures are estimated to yield additional revenue of not less thanGHg700 million or 0.7 percent of GDP in 2014. i, In 2014, the Ministry of Finance has initiated a process to change the upfront exemptions regime to a credit and refund system to minimize abuse, tax evasion and tax avoidance.
In addition the Ghana Investment Promotion 20.
Centre (GIPC) Act will be reviewed to ensure that exemptions granted by the GIPC are consistent with the government exemption policy.
In this regards, the Budget includes expenditure rationalisation measures such as: iil.
21. continuation of the policy on bringing utility and petroleum subsidies within budget estimates and making them more targeted towards our social intervention goals; a framework within the Ho Forum on public sector pay sustainability to reduce the wage bill as a share of tax revenue, from 57 percent in 2013 to 35percent by 2017.
This would put us in compliance with the ECOWAS criterion of wage-to-revenue ratio; the dcvelopmefit ofa multi:yégf framework in the immediate ferm as part of wage sustainability measures which is emerging from a growing consensus between government and labour; a proposal of a moratorium on public sector wage increase in 2014 through the public sector wage negotiation process; continuation of the policy of net freeze on employment into some sectors of the public service.
Speaker in addition to the above measures, the following PFM reforms that are structural in nature are also being implemented: i il.
the shift of all government transactions to a new Chart of Accounts (COA) ~to facilitate more transparency; the shift of budget and financial accounting from cash to semi-accrual basis to help government better track its financial commitments; iti.
deployment of all transactions to a GIFMIS electronic platform comprising ten (10) budget and accounting systems; and iv.
improvement in revenue and fiscal performance under GRAs revenue modernization programme 22, Mr.
24, Mr.
Spealer, in 2014, the key monetary policy concern is re-anchoring inflation expectations and exchange rate stability.
The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has taken the following measures to re-anchor inflation expectations and prevent the second round impact of the deregulation of petroleum and utility prices from getting entrenched in the economy: i a2 percent rate increase by the MPC from16 percent to 18 percent; and ii.
issuance of a set of foreign exchange regulations and code of conduct to guide operations in the foreign exchange market.
MEDIUM-TERM FISCAL MEASURES 27.
The main goal of the medium term macroeconomic programme is to achieve and sustain macroeconomic stability for the promotion of growth and development.
The strategy for achieving macroeconomic stability includes: i i 28. if.
ensuring fiscal discipline that hinges on prudent public expenditure management; enhanced domestic revenue mobilization — mainly through the ongoing GRA reforms that include the revision of all our direct and indirect tax laws; public sector reforms, with particular emphasis on right-sizing the public service; reclassification of, and improvement in, public debt management; and encouraging the private sector to participate in the accelerated growth agenda through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) including improvements in downstream energy and power distribution projects.
Speaker, expenditure rationalization measures will include: shifting the focus of expenditure from low-priority public spending for all MDAs; rationalization of the wage bill, pensions, gratuities, and social security payments as part of measures to reduce the wage bill to tax revenue ratio to ECOWAS threshold.