The Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South, S K Balado Manu has stated that laws and Acts cannot be the only bench mark to fight corruption in the country. He said a number of laws and institutions have already been instituted in that direction, hence there is the need for pragmatic steps to be taken in the fight against that canker.
“If the President intends to fight corruption by actions, then I’m calling on him to consider it as a matter of urgency to withdraw Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni as the Minister for Foreign Affairs because there are allegations of corruption against him.”
Contributing to the concluding part of the debate on the President’s State of the Nation’s Address, he noted that the Kufuor-led administration enacted a number of laws and strengthened some institutions to fight corruption but that alone was not enough to fight perceived corruption so president Mills must move beyond just passing laws in his bid to fight corruption.
He disagrees with the president’s intention to bring the appropriate bills to the House to fight corruption, saying that a government needs political will and action to reduce corruption to the barest minimum if not totally eradicating it.
In his contribution, former Minister for Defence, Albert Kan Dapaah advised the president and his government to desist from interfering with the normal practice of the military.
Warning that the NPP would resist any attempts to interfere with the normal practices of the military in Ghana, Mr Kan Dapaah stated: “We will vehemently oppose any attempts to politicize the Ghana Army and work hard to protect those in the and out of the service who are being harassed because they are perceived to be sympathizers of the New Patriotic Party.
“Government had no business to have intervened in the recruitment of persons into any of the service like what happened some few days after they [NDC] had taken office”.
Mr Kan Dapaah who is also the MP for Afigya-Sekyere East added that it will be very wrong for state security apparatus to be used to harass citizens who are doing legitimate business in the country under a president who claims to be a father for all.
On energy, he indicated that he was very happy to hear the president say that his government will increase power from the current 1800 to 500 megawatts, saying that, “though, that might seem too ambitious it is achievable, because the previous government has laid a solid foundation for that to happen”.
He however expressed disappointment that no mention was made about the prices of petroleum products, especially now that world crude prices have fallen to all time lows, after the NDC had made huge political capital about the failure of the Kufuor administration to reduce petroleum prices in the country. Prof Mills promised, in the run to last year’s elections, to reduce petrol prices to GH¢2 per gallon.
In winding up, 2nd Deputy Speaker, Mike Oquaye, welcomed the decision to honour Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah with a national holiday but was however of the view that he was not the only person who helped achieve Ghana’s independence. All the others, including the other members of the Big Six also deserve honour.
