Parliament Approves Estimates for Three Ministries

Parliament on Monday approved annual estimates for the ministries of Education, Local Government and Rural Development and Transport and Communications but said they were inadequate.

It feared that about 80 per cent of the allocations would have to go into wages and salaries leaving little for training, investment and development.

The Ministry of Education got 1.4 trillion cedis, Local Government had 209.5 billion cedis while the Ministry of Transport and Communications got 37 billion cedis.

Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Mr Kwadwo Baah- Wiredu and Mr Felix Owusu-Agyapong, ministers of Education, Local Government and Rural Development and Transport and Communications, in that order, prayed the House to approve the estimates to enable their various ministries to carry on their projects and programmes during this financial year.

Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi announced that the ministry would intensify the distant education programme, bridge the gap between the urban and the rural schools while efforts would be made to narrow the disparity in performance.

Supporting the motion on education, Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC- Hohoe South, said 1.4 trillion cedis voted for education appeared colossal but when it is compared to the volume of work it has to do it could be described as inadequate.

He said the money when stretched on more than 200,000 teachers and about three million students in the senior secondary schools and the universities cannot meet the nation's educational requirement.

Mr Kedem debunked the perception that the educational standard has fallen but rather it is the new curriculum, which is deeper in scope and significantly different from the old system.

He called for the intensification of distant learning and the provision of adequate libraries. More financial support should be given to non-formal education and polytechnics as well as the passing of a law on the formula for the disbursement of the National Education Trust Fund.

Mr Baah-Wiredu said the major programme of the ministry are the review of the local government Act 462 and speeding up of the fiscal decentralisation study in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance.

The other programmes, he said, include training of assembly members, councillors and unit committee members in local policy formulation, stimulate the collection of internally generated revenue, review of the registration of birth and deaths Act and the implementation of the national environmental sanitation policy.

Mr. Baah-Wiredu said the Department of Community Development would also continue its programme of rehabilitation of 18 women's training institutes, three rural training centres and the improvement of socio-economic infrastructure of the water supply systems, markets and public toilet in ten selected districts.

Mr. Enoch T. Mensah, NDC-Ningo/Prampram associating himself with the motion, expressed concern about the laxity of development planning for urban and rural areas in the disposal of solid and liquid waste.

Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey (rtd), NPP-Berekum urged district assemblies to enforce the law on provision of water closet in each home in urban areas.

He said he was not happy about the inadequacy of public toilets in the country especially, Berekum in his constituency.

Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC-Ketu North, urged that urban, zonal and unit committees should be established to ensure that effective decentralisation take roots.

Mr Owusu-Agyapong said the new outlook of the ministry has created additional responsibilities for investment and development in the transport and communication sector.

He said the Ministry is to ensure that the development of information technology and its application to education, agriculture and industry are to be intensified.

Mr Kofi Attor, NDC-Ho Central, called for adequate provision of resources to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to carry on its functions.

He said GBC could generate enough revenue for its own use instead of relying on government subvention.

Mr Attor called for the removal of the Ghana Institute of Journalism to its new site with provision of funds to enable it carry out its degree-awarding programme.