Repeal of Criminal libel law has expanded
Accra (Greater Accra)
31 March 2003- Parliament on Friday passed the approval of the Debt Recovery of
the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Company Fund Bill after the Joint Committee of
Finance and Mines and Energy presented it.
The Minister of
Finance and Economic Planning, Yaw Osafo-Maafo moved the Motion for the
approval of the Bill, saying it would not lead to the imposition of a new tax
and that the fund would be used solely for debt recovery on the TOR bonds.
The TOR deals
primarily with the processing of imported Bonny Light and Brass river crude's
from Nigeria and produces a variety of refined products for domestic
consumption and export.
He said at the end of
December 2002, TOR was estimated to have accumulated a stock of debt (principal
and interest) of over 4.5 trillion cedis. These debts have been guaranteed
fully by the government leading to a strain on the nation's resources.
Osafo-Maafo said due
to the accumulation of the debt, government considered a bridging operation to
minimise the impact on the national budget through the issue of bonds to
finance the TOR debt, which were in the books of notably Ghana Commercial Bank
Limited.
In order to
facilitate the servicing of the debt that has been converted into bond and
fully guaranteed by Government, the TOR Fund Bill was being proposed to
establish a Fund to finance payment of debts incurred by TOR and to provide for
other related matters.
Eugene Atta Agyepong,
Chairman of the Committee, said the Minister informed the committee that the
levy would be effective only when there were windfalls and this he explained
would go a long way in reducing the debt of TOR and its interest.
He further informed
the Committee that the levy would not increase prices of petroleum products but
would be charged on the windfall that would arise as a result of falling prices
of petroleum products on the international market.
The Minister further
noted that the current increases in the prices of petroleum products did not
make any provision for debt repayment, which was carried, in the form of bonds
issued to the Banks.
Agyepong said the
Committee observed that the TOR debt currently been absorbed by the government
should be serviced and that the proposed bill was supposed to have done just
that.
Moses Asaga, the
ranking member of Finance and Economic planning opposed the Bill, saying the
pricing formula had not been transparent and that it was ambiguous. He said
there had been suspicion about the level and actual TOR debt that needed to be
clarified or else it could not be supported to be passed into law.
Asaga said there was
the need to avail the two committees of the mechanism in oil pricing formula and
not only highlight the price build-up. Norbert Awulley, NDC- Builsa South said
TOR belonged to government and wondered whether a law was required to utilise
any windfall that the company made, adding that it did not need a law to absorb
the debts of the company. After a heated debate, 69 members voted for the
Motion while 49 voted against it with no abstentions.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
31 March 2003- Parliament on Friday passed the Appropriation Bill, which gave
the Minister of Finance and Economic planning, Yaw Osafo-Maafo authority to
direct the Controller and Accountant-General to withdraw 21.347 trillion cedis
from the Consolidated Fund for the financial year ending 31 December 2003 for
government business.
The purposes for
which the sum shall be appropriated are statutory payment of 9.302 trillion
cedis, discretionary expenditure 10.442 trillion cedis and other discretionary
payment of 1.602 trillion cedis.
The statutory payment
comprised transfers to households such as pensions, gratuities, and the new
National Health Fund (NHF), interest on domestic and external debts, principal
repayment (external debt), District Assemblies Common Fund, Road Fund,
Education Trust Fund and Petroleum Related Fund.
Discretionary
expenditure was personal emoluments, administration expenses, service cost and
investment cost. Other discretionary payment included VAT Refunds, arrears
clearance on roads, utility price subsidies, HIPC financed expenditure and
divestiture liabilities.
In another
development, the Minister of Finance had promised to waive all taxes on
computers imported into the country. He gave the promise as a compromise to the
Minority's call for the stay of a bill seeking to abolish VAT on computers
imported for educational institutions. The Minority argued that he came with a
composite bill to waive all taxes to aid government's computer literacy drive.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
31 March 2003- Members of the Parliamentary Press Corps has expressed its
commitment to strengthen Parliamentary democracy and press freedom in the
country.
They said they would
also strive to forge partnership with parliament and other relevant bodies
committed to good governance and Parliamentary democracy. These sentiments were
contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a Two-day workshop on: "The
role of the Parliamentary Reporter to the promotion of Good Governance,"
sponsored by the Frederick Ebert Foundation (FES) in Accra.
The Communiqué said
the members would strive to update their knowledge regularly on parliamentary
rules and procedures to ensure accurate reportage and endeavour to uphold the
ethics and highest professional standards of journalism.
The Members pledged
to provide fair, objective and balanced coverage of the contributions of
members and that Parliament should be well resourced with facilities to help
meet the information needs of the Press Corps.
They called for
dialogue with management of media organisations to adequately resource their
representatives in Parliament to enable them carry out their functions
effectively.
The members pledged
to negotiate with their media organisations to keep their representatives in
Parliament for longer periods to enable them gain rich experience in the coverage
of parliament.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
31 March 2003- The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Kenneth Dzirasah has
said that the repeal of the criminal libel laws has expanded the frontiers of
free speech making the Fourth Republic the most liberal environment for media
freedom.
"Parliamentary
reportage has suffered a checked history in this country and any time the
parliamentary process suffers a set back as a result of military intervention,
the parliamentary reporter is also relieved of his duties."
Dzirasah said this in
a Keynote address at the opening of a two-day workshop for members of the
Parliamentary Press Corps in Accra. The workshop; on the theme, "the role
of the Parliamentary Reporter in the Promotion of Good Governance," was
sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Dzirasah said the
workshop was taking place at a time when there was a vibrant debate over issues
relating to good governance, adding that good governance as a political concept
had attributes that covered the absence of arbitrary arrest, freedom of speech
and expression and many other rights.
He said the media has
a critical role in ensuring that those in whom the electorate had reposed trust
to govern their affairs did so with utmost dedication and honesty. It was
therefore not by chance that the media occupies the key position of being the
fourth estate of the realm and as the watchdog and even the conscience of the
people, he said.
"The media is
expected to supervise the supervisor and to ensure that the leadership keeps
faith with the people." Dzirasah said as a vehicle for self-expression,
the media has responsibility to reflect public opinion and inform citizens in a
balanced manner so as to guide the public to fashion out opinion on national
issues.
He said there is a
lot more coverage of parliamentary activities than there was in the past due to
the advent of many more newspapers, particularly privately owned and also
increased technology within the audio-visual medium for news dissemination.
"With improved
access to the media as a result of improvement in information technology and
communication, a large number of the public now participate in the activities
of parliament than used to be the case," he added.
He said many more
Ghanaians have become politically conscious of their rights and
responsibilities and they seek the medium of the press to ventilate their
concerns that also cover the work of parliament.
Dzirasah said the
greatest challenge facing the media towards the promotion of good governance
was the ability of the journalist to demonstrate fairness, firmness,
objectivity and a high sense of balance in his reportage on issues generally.
Frank Agyekum,
Spokesman on Governance said any wrong comment by the media can ruin the career
of a politician and so there was the need for the press to be cautious in their
reportage.
He said there was the
need for the media to ensure that the modest gains made so far were protected
and that the negatives aspects of the media are not allowed to mar their good
performance.
Capt. Nkrabea
Effah-Dartey ((Rtd), Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development
said efficient parliamentary reporting was the bedrock of any democratic system
since it was the base of expressing of opinions for the benefit of the people.
He said the
electorate depend on the reports of the proceedings of parliament to make informed
decisions and therefore rely on the parliamentary reporter to present accurate
and balanced reports.
Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh,
Editor of Daily Graphic delivered a paper on the topic "The Dilemma of the
Parliamentary Reporter in relations to his Editor, S. N. Darkwa, Former Clerk
of Parliament and John Agama, Deputy Clerk of Parliament were other resource
persons.
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