President says no to a $ 200 million chamber for parliament

General News of Monday, July 8, 2019

Source: thestatesmanonline.com

2019-07-08

Sources inside Jubilee House told the Daily Statesman that President Akufo-Addo was opposed to measures taken by the leadership of Parliament and other senior officials in the House to engage in the construction of a new debate room for deputies.

Sources inside Jubilee House told the Daily Statesman that President Akufo-Addo was opposed to measures taken by the leadership of Parliament and other senior officials in the House to engage in the construction of a new debate room for deputies.

The proposed chamber, which parliamentary leaders hoped to put in place three years from now, would cost $ 200 million. They argued that the current room at State House was not suited to its purpose as it lacked adequate facilities and posed some security risks.

However, according to credible sources within the presidency and close to the ministers, President Akufo-Addo repressed the project.

"The president has the firm intention to ensure that the government focuses on its priority projects: roads, education and training, agriculture, rural development, water and housing," said a leading source. "The proposal for this construction project was not even put to the cabinet's discussion, much less to cabinet approval.

"The big business announcements over the past two weeks will tell you where the government is focused."

Houses for the army

On Thursday, the president launched the work of a $ 100 million housing and rehabilitation project for the Ghana Armed Forces, the military academy and the training school. Teshie.

The project, funded by an installation from two Chinese construction companies, will provide 580 new housing for servicemen and women in the country's garrisons as part of the government's policy on the regeneration of barracks.

Sixty-four new dwellings were promised during the first phase of the work set out in the policy, launched in 2017. Sixteen of them are completed and the remaining 48 are to be delivered by the end of the year. 39; year. The works also create jobs.

The second-phase housing includes a military home with 240 independent rooms, 176 two-bedroom apartments and 160 two-bedroom houses.

The Military School will also benefit from an administrative block comprising 48 offices and conference rooms, an auditorium seating up to 640 people and a new block of clbadrooms. The grounds of the Academy will also be walled and secured.

Progress on cocoa

On Wednesday, the Ghana Cocoa Board announced that with its strategic partner, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana had reached an initial agreement with buyers, processors and manufacturers of cocoa-based products on mechanisms to structure a cocoa product. new cocoa floor price.

The decision on a floor price is made in the interest of the well-being of farmers, said the two countries.

A share of $ 400 of each ton sold at the floor price must be reserved for the fixed incomes of cocoa producers.

Ghana and Ivory Coast announced last month that they would set a minimum of $ 2,600 per ton of free on board. As of the beginning of the 2020/21 season, the chocolate companies must pay this price to obtain the right to sourced cocoa from 65% of the world supply of both countries, including Ghanaian premium products.

Pan-African Free Trade On July 7, the President accepted the invitation to Ghana from the African Union Commission to host the secretariat of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The launch of AfCFTA will create the world's largest trading bloc, home to 1.2 billion people, with a combined gross domestic product of $ 2.5 trillion.

The positive benefits to Ghana in terms of jobs, increased investment and increased exports that the free trade zone will bring should be considerable.

1.6 billion GHC for roads

At the end of June, the Ministry of Finance approved 1.6 billion GHC for 14 key road projects to be executed by the Ministry of Roads and Highways. The payment of the work will be spread over several years.

The projects include the reconstruction, rehabilitation and upgrading of 381 kilometers of road network, covering the Ashanti, Bono, East and North regions. The largest of the 14 projects concerns the modernization of the road between Salaga and Bimbilla, which extends over 71 kilometers.

Information provided by the Ministry of Finance to the Daily Statesman reports on 13 other road projects underway.

The announcement of the new House of Parliament projects surprised the public and sparked a lot of criticism. Some MPs disagreed with the leaders of the construction project.

Questions have been raised about the degree of knowledge of MPs about the new chamber. Although the project was supported by the President, Mike Oquaye, and leaders of majorities and minorities, the NDC's chief representative in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, was remarkably absent from last week's debate.

The project also did not have the official support of Parliament.

The Okaikwei Central MP, Patrick Yaw Boamah, Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, told reporters that a new 450-seat chamber for Parliament was not a priority and that it should not be considered by the government at the moment.