A former Defense Minister and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah has asked members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to bring their internal squabbling to an end, to enable the government stay focused.

“The internal bickering within the ruling NDC does not give the government the focus that it needs to address the very difficult economic challenges confronting this country”, he noted, adding “I think it is important that a solution is found to that.”

Mr. Kan-Dapaah, who doubles as Member of Parliament (MP) for Efigya-Sekyere West made these comments yesterday on the floor of Parliament when he was contributing to the debate on the Budget estimate and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2010 fiscal year.

The ruling government has in recent times suffered some internal bickering as big wigs within the party incessantly criticize the President either for his slow pace in dealing with national issues or his approach in formulating policies to govern various sectors of the economy.

According to Kan-Dapaah, if the situation does not end, it will have a rippling effect on the economy as the government will lose focus in attending to the numerous challenges confronting it. He also highlighted on over concentration of fault finding and mudslinging among the ruling party, a situation he said does not engender the needed atmosphere in driving the nation forward towards achieving a better economy.

His comments were among six lessons he outlined and said if pursued by any government will led to economic success and an improvement in the living conditions of the people. He referred to the budget as one that cannot be considered among any budget statement presented to the House since 1993 as there were unachievable targets in the budget statement.

He thus called on members of the House to accept a non-partisan approach in dealing with national issues. “We must resolve as nation to accept a non-partisan approach to the management of our economy. Don’t let us forget that we live in the middle of a serious global economic crisis.” he noted. He also expressed concerns about the lack of sufficient consultation in the preparation of the 2010 budget statement.

This he said does not augur well for a developing country like Ghana and, therefore, proposed that Parliamentarians be given the opportunity to make sufficient input into the budget, before it is presented to the House.This, according to him, will afford them, especially the majority members to have their fair criticism before it is presented.

“Once the budget statement document is presented to the House, it becomes a political document and it is very difficult for members especially from the majority to criticize it even if they have very strong views.I think we should sit down and consider whether it will be possible to get some involvement of parliamentarians in the budget process before the document is finalized,” he suggested.

Touching on the restoration of tariffs on rice and other food imports, Mr. Kan-Dapaah noted that the intervention by the Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffour does not seek to protect local industries but rather seeks to get revenue for government in pursuing its developmental agenda.

According to him, the tariffs if restored will increase the cost and encourage smuggling of rice into the country as there are no duties and taxes on rice importation in neighboring countries.

In a related development the Hon.Kan Dapaah, also took serious offence to a statement made by the MP for North Tongu, Charles Hogdogbey, to the effect that the former government mishandled monies that they got from peace keeping operations.

He said as a very serious parliament, members should not be allowed to make statements not based on facts, adding that as a former Defense Minister, he challenges the member to prove the allegation. “I take very serious offence, and I challenge him to prove it. If I have done that, I should be in Nsawam, what is he talking about, he shouldn’t play with this. I demand that he withdraws his statement”.

But Mr. Hogdogbey reiterated that he still stands by his words, because reports have shown that the former NPP government mishandled monies meant for the gallant men and women of the Ministry, but not for the former Minister of Defence.

Mr. Kan Dapaah said looking at the seriousness of the allegations, it would be proper for the member to prove that point, and also refer the matter to the Privileges Committee so that it could be investigated in the interest of the country.

The speaker said the member should show the report to the house, or he should withdraw the statement and bring the report later on. This unfolded when the former deputy Defence Minister, William Ofori Boafo, was making his contribution to the 2010 budget statement which is before the house for approval.

W.O. Boafo, said the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) had projects that are self sustaining, but the events of today have made it impossible for those projects to run because if you take a look at the peace keeping operations, they have shortfalls in the provision of equipment.

The equipment, he said, are provided by the armed forces themselves to the operation areas, and at every quarter they receive reimbursement, as such if there are shortfalls no reimbursement would come and the money which is needed would not be sufficient to make the peace keeping operations effective.

Mr. Charles Hogdogbey informed the house that it is common knowledge that when there is a peace keeping exercise the country provides the necessary equipments and it is refunded later. He insisted that reports have shown that those monies refunded were mismanaged by the former administration, so the member should not proceed to tell the house matters like this.

The Speaker said the member should show the report to the house; else he should withdraw the statement and bring the report later, when he has proof of the report. The MP consequently withdrew the statement, which received jeers from the minority side.

The chairman of the Finance Committee then asked for direction from the Speaker, as to whether it was right for the minority to do so. Whilst the Speaker thinks that the word shame is parliamentary, some members thought otherwise.

Majority leader, Alban Bagbin, said the word is often used by members on the floor, as such they had an occasion to seek guidance from the late Peter Ala Adjetey, and he ruled that the word ‘shame’ was unparliamentry.

He noted that although they are not bound by it, the use of the word discourages members from apologizing, especially when the member knows that after withdrawing, members would hoot at you.

According to him, there should be an atmosphere that would allow people to withdraw their comments honourably, as would happen if the rule is allowed to stay as part of the practice in the house.

Minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, agreed to the assertions of the majority leader, adding that in the use of the word, it could be acceptable or unacceptable, depending on the context in which it was used. He said if a member demonstrably shows that it is persistently misleading the house, then the show of shame may be justifiable. Second deputy Speaker of parliament, Prof Mike Ocquaye, in his view said the expression ‘shame’ is quite common in British parliamentary usage, and as the mother of parliamentary practice, we have to learn from their best practices.

The Dome Kwabenya MP maintained that members are not supposed to make statements that would lead to withdrawals and apologies because that is the way a parliament can take itself seriously, because you cannot just use expressions in a way that would lead to withdrawals. “If a member has to withdraw, he or she must withdraw”.

He cautioned members to be guided and be careful of what they say because Ghanaians would take the house seriously or not based on that because even within the house they are not happy about utterances of some members. “We must take ourselves seriously so that we make statements that would not often lead to rendering of apologies”.

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle

Tags: internal squabble, Kan-Dapaah, ndc