Calls for the scrapping of Parliamentary Affairs Ministry

Accra, May 24, GNA - Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, (NDC- Lawra/Nadom), on Wednesday asked the government to scrap the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs because it was a threat to the practice of democracy in the country.

He said the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Felix Owusu-Adjapong, who doubles as the Majority Leader in Parliament was more interested in the programmes of the Executive arm of Government to the detriment of effective parliamentary business.

Dr Kunbuor was speaking with the Ghana News Agency in an interview after his contributions to a statement on the African Day celebration made by Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the floor of the House.

The GNA had sought for further explanations from Dr Kunbuor why he had called for the dissolution of the Ministry as a means of strengthening Parliament.

Dr Kunbuor said the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs because of "his personal style" was only interested in putting the agenda of Government across and, therefore, oftentimes business in the House was rushed and rubber-stamped to suit the Executive resulting in poor parliamentary business.

Earlier, Dr Kunbuor in his contribution told the House that the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Report on Ghana had called for the strengthening of parliamentary oversight functions. Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei in his statement to mark the Day, said the theme chosen for the celebration of African Day: "Working together for integration and development," could not have been more appropriate at a time when other regions such as Europe and Asia were vigorously pursuing various integration schemes.

He said the ongoing World Trade Organisation Doha Roundtable Negotiations including the negotiations between the Economic community of west African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union for the conclusion of an economic partnership agreements expected to come into force by 2007, had "underscored the need for ECOWAS member States to take the integration process more seriously."

Mr Osei-Adjei also touched on the New Partnership For Africa's Development (NEPAD) and said it was Africa's development blue print aimed at placing the Continent on the path of sustainable development. Mr Kwabena A. Okerchiri, First Deputy Majority Chief Whip, contributing said the African Union had adopted regional bodies such as ECOWAS as building blocks to push the developmental agenda of the Continent forward.

He said the APRM provided a framework for the practice of good governance in all its forms.

Mrs Elizabeth Amoah Tetteh, (NDC-Twifu-Atti Morkwaa) urged African Leaders not to over concentrate on economic achievements to the detriment of the provision of social services such as education; water and health care.

Mr John Mahama, (NDC- Bole Bamboi) was not pleased that the Ministry of Regional Integration had been scrapped saying it went against the agenda of regional cooperation.

He said although ECOWAS was older than the creation of the European Union, yet the union had made great strides in their regional integration.

In a related development, Mr James Klutse Avedzi, (NDC-Ketu North) in a statement, said on May 16, 2006 the river Kplikpa on which the Afife dam in the constituency burst it banks resulting in the flooding of rice farmlands in the area with dire consequence. He appealed to NADMO to go to the aid of the farmers in the area by providing them with seedlings for replanting.