GRi in Parliament
10 – 04 - 2003
Parliamentary
Committee consider nominees
Youth and Sports
sector would not be relegated
Competency needed
at economic negotiating table
Parliamentary
Committee consider nominees
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April
2003- Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idriss, Minister of Works
and Housing designate on Wednesday said his main vision was to ensure that the
main mission of the ministry was actualise with the support and co-operation of
the staff.
He said the sectors of the
Ministry needed to be revamped as they were very important to the
socio-economic development of the people and crucial in the development agenda
of the government.
Alhaji Idriss
said this when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to
be considered as one of the nominee of the President to be appointed by
Parliament as Minister of Works and Housing.
He said he was aware that the
Ministry has a chequered history of Ministers being appointed and serving short
periods and he would be guided by that and with the support of the staff take
firm control of the Ministry to make it perform its duties.
The Minister-designate said the
Ministry was to ensure that the housing, works, water and sanitation services
were provided and he would ensure that the plans on the drawing board were
implemented.
Alhaji Idriss
said areas that are disadvantaged would be given the necessary support in all
aspects of development to have a national character, especially in the housing
industry where most public and civil servants are without accommodation.
He said he would pay attention
to deprived areas across the country, especially in the North and along the
coast that are threatened with sea erosion. Alhaji Idriss
said the Ministry would formulate policies to address the problem of the housing
sector since the government statutory body, the State Housing Corporation is on
divestiture and it was expensive to get capital to put up new housing units.
On the plans for lay-outs for
towns and cities, he said the issue requires a multi-sectoral
approach and he would ensure that there was collaboration with the Ministries
of Local Government and Rural development and Lands and Forestry for effective
controls.
Alhaji Idriss
said lack of monitoring and collaboration and inertia in the past led to most
of the problems and called for a change of attitude by the people in the areas
of sanitation. He said the impasse between the illegal occupants along the
Korle lagoon and the Ministry was because officials had not used diplomacy in
handling the situation and he would use a new approach and a new alternate
arrangements before the people are made to relocate.
The Minister-designate said he
would implement preliminary studies to assist the urban poor and make use of
the facilities of the SSNIT, GREDA and other private developers. He said two
Dutch companies have shown keen interest in the development of the coastal belt
along
On the issue of threat of
massive flooding in parts of
Alhaji Idriss
said the issue of private sector participation in water delivery should be
looked at holistically to determine whether the people could afford it and
whether the Ghana Water Company could streamline their services towards the
mutual benefit of all.
GRi…/
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Youth and
Sports sector would not be relegated
He said each of the sectors of
the Ministry has its line of responsibility and that the youth play
complimentary role in acquiring education and also engages in sports and so the
merger would rather consolidate the functions of the various sectors.
Alhaji Bawa
said this when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to
be considered for appointment as Minister of state at the new Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports to be in charge of Youth and Sports.
He said his duty as a Deputy
Minister in-charge of Tertiary education at the Ministry of Education has
imbibed in him the experience of humility, understanding, flexibility and
readiness to listen and talk less that would assist in his new duty.
Alhaji Bawa
is a lawyer by profession with fifteen years experience and worked as a legal
advisor to the Ga District Assembly and at the office
of the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust and was a member of the ECOWAS
Parliament.
The Minister-designate said
being a footballer in school days would not make him concentrate on only
football, since there were about 27 disciplines at the Ministry and he would do
well to work across board.
Alhaji Bawa
said he would ensure that the aspect of youth development was given much
impetus and encouragement and brought into the mainstream of the country's
policies.
He said the biggest challenge
facing the youth were unemployment, how to harness their talent, make them
believe in themselves, make use of their leisure times and also love their
country.
The Minister-designate said the
biggest challenge of the ministry was to make the youth appreciate their role
towards contributing to national development and engaging them in the
acquisition of skills and vocations. Alhaji Bawa said
the Ministry would also intensify its public education geared towards the youth
to make them appreciate the menace of HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country and for
adoption of preventive methods such as the use of condoms.
He said he did not believe in
the use of "ways and means", juju or fetish to win football matches,
adding that the most important thing was for hard training, discipline and good
management that would ensure success in all endeavours, especially matches.
The Minister-designate said he
would liaise with heads of educational institutions and technical heads to curb
the rate of hooliganism that has crept into schools by enforcing discipline at
all levels.
GRi…/
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Competency
needed at economic negotiating table
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April
2003- Dr Samuel Nii Ashong,
a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Analysis has said that the country
needs competent people at the negotiating table with donors to come out of the
economic trappings.
He said this is an era of linkages
and third world countries, especially due to their lack of resources and
capital have to be dependant on others and cannot be independent but they
should be steadfast in their demands.
Dr. Ashong
said this when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on
Wednesday to be considered as one of the nominees of the President as a
Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
The country has depended so much
on donor support that if the conditionalities are not
met, economic development stalls and advised that government must not plan with
moneys accruing from divestiture revenue as normal revenue or else bank and
trade bills would choke the business sector.
He said doling of sums of money
to individuals or groups would not in any way bring down the poverty level in
the country, adding that there was the need for establishment of projects and
effective monitoring to ensure cost effectiveness.
Dr Ashong
was the lead person in charge of analysing macro-economics and its impacts of
government fiscal policies contracted with the IMF under the Enhanced
Structural Adjustment facility and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
and the World under the Economic Reform Support Operation.
He said his experiences in
forecasting and marketing analysis and designing and estimated
macro-econometric models for developing countries, puts him in a better
position to advise and collaborate with other sector ministries for the
socio-economic development of the country.
Dr. Ashong
said such deprived areas such as the Afram Plains
could be assisted with simple irrigation equipment to make use of the
He said it does not make sense
to give less money to Ministries, Departments and Agencies below their
estimated budgets and expect them to perform satisfactorily. The
Minister-designate said the controversy surrounding the inflation rate was
because officials of the Statistics Service failed to conduct follow-up
research after their first findings at the turbulent period of the fuel and
utility price increases.
Edward Martey
Akita, Minister of State-designate for Fisheries at the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture also appeared before the Committee and said there was the need to
focus on fisheries because the sector has not seen much improvement and the
fishermen needed to given the necessary training.
He said there has been so much
over capitalisation of the fishing industry and there was the need to encourage
them to go into co-operatives to jointly ventures into harnessing the
resources.
He said the importation of
fishes about 40 metric tonnes annually was also killing the industry and there
was the need for the country to also utilise its advantage in tuna and other
marine organisms production to export to earn foreign exchange.
The Minister-designate said
fishing vessels, especially the canoes were not
suitable to identifying fishes while almost the entire fishing gear and
equipment are imported at a high cost to the fishermen.
He said the high cost of pre-mix
fuel for fishing could be reduced if the fishermen enter into joint ventures to
undertake fishing expeditions to break even instead of using obsolete vessels
and machinery in fishing.
GRi.../
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