Institute of Local Government Studies Bill
discussed
Publish education report for public
consumption
Bagbin and Zumakpe offer 20 million cedis
Squatters ordered to leave the James Town Beach
Institute of Local Government Studies Bill
discussed
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 May 2003 - Parliament on Tuesday discussed the Institute of Local Government Studies Bill prior to its consideration. George Y. Amoah, Chairman of the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, moved for the adoption of the Report on the Bill.
He said the Bill when passed would provide the Institute with a statutory base since it was currently operating as a pilot project with funding from the government of The Netherlands. Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said the objective of the Institute was to train members of the Regional Coordinating Councils, District Assemblies, Lower Government Units and the Local Government Service.
He said apart from the traditional training programmes and the provisions of consultancy and advisory services to the Central Government, Units of Local Government and other bodies that may require its services, the Institute was also empowered to award certificates, diplomas and other higher qualifications approved by the National Accreditation Board.
Adjei-Darko said to ensure the efficient management of the Institute, there was to be in place a Board of Governors to be charged with the responsibility of ensuring the implementation and achievement of the objectives of the Institute.
The other objectives included the formulation of policies within the framework of the national policy on decentralisation and local government. Alhaji Abdulai Salifu, NDC- Tolon, said the passage of the Bill would ensure training of adequate qualified staff since the sector had been bedevilled with the problem of untrained staff.
He said it was hoped that the Institute would be capable of raising the capabilities of the District Assemblies by offering enhanced training for Members of the District Assemblies, District Chief Executives, Presiding Members and other auxiliary staff.
Abuga Pele, NDC- Chiana / Paga, cautioned about the financial implications of setting up the Institute and stressed the need to ensure that the courses to be run would be relevant to the local government system. He said there was the need for the Institute to be autonomous to be able to ensure professional training of the staff and urged District Assemblies to contribute towards funding the Institute to play its expected role.
Pele said since most of the Assemblies had been crippled with misappropriation of funds and embezzlement, the establishment of the Institute would ensure the raising of the capacity of the Assemblies to perform.
Alex K. Korankye, NPP- Asante Akim South, said there was the need for the Local Government Administration to be strengthened with the right calibre of staff. Emmanuel Zumakpe, NDC- Nadowli South, said there was the need for the Institute to research into the complete decentralisation process since after its inception about 12 years ago there had not been any form of complete decentralisation so that matters could be handled at the local level.
Akwasi Afrifa, NPP- Fomena, said the passage of the Bill setting up the Institute would afford newly elected and appointed members of District Assemblies to be well educated on local government administration, laws and processes. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, NDC- Fanteakwa, said the two-weeks orientation courses for District Chief Executives was too short a period for them to be well educated on their functions and the laws of the assemblies and suggested that the courses should be extended to about three months.
He said training should not be geared towards raising the capacity of only the staff of the Assemblies but it should include Assembly and Unit Committee Members at the local level who lacked basic knowledge of what was needed of them and only attended meetings for their per diem.
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Publish education report for public
consumption
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 May 2003-Kosi Kedem, Member of Parliament for Hohoe South, has expressed concern about the delay by Government in releasing the report of the President's Committee on the Review of the Education Reforms.
He said the delay was causing serious public concern and also affecting policy implementation in the Ministry of Education while officials at the Ministry were not sure of what to do in view of the pending report.
Kedem said this in an Urgent Statement in Parliament on Tuesday requesting the government to release the report for public consumption. He said many people outside the Ministry were also confused as they were not sure of what the government's policy on education was or would be.
Kedem said some people were also worried that government seemed to be implementing some of the committee's recommendations without publicly acknowledging it. He asked whether the government was still pursuing the old policies it had condemned and what was its policy on funding of education especially cost sharing at the tertiary level.
The Member also asked whether Teacher Training Colleges were going to be upgraded to Diploma awarding institutions or whether the Regional Colleges of Arts, Science and Technology (RECAST) concept was going to be implemented.
Kedem also wanted to know whether the government would abolish the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) whose VAT component was severely condemned and rejected.
The Member asked how rural education was to be handled in relation to urban education and whether government was going to abolish the Junior Secondary School System or increase the duration of the Senior Secondary School.
Kedem also asked what was likely to be government's policy on public library, its stand on the teaching of information technology in schools and how it intended to handle teacher education.
He said the public was anxiously waiting for answers to these and many other questions on education and it was believed that only the timely reaction of the government to the President's Education Review Committee's report could help allay the concerns of the public.
Joseph Adusei-Sarkodie, Chairman of the Education Committee, explained that the delay in realising the report was because the government had presented it to other bodies for consideration and review before it could implement the report.
Doe Adjaho, Minority Whip, wanted to know why parts of the report were being implemented when it was being alleged that it was being reviewed before its implementation.
He asked about the status of the report, government's position on the issue and requested that the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports should be made to appear before the House to answer to Members' concerns and request.
Joe Gidisu, NDC- North Tongu, said the government was becoming notorious in trying to buy time on national and topical issues and cited the cash and carry system and the cost sharing in education.
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Bagbin and Zumakpe offer 20 million cedis
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 May 2003- Minority Leader Alban Bagbin and Emmanuel Zumakpe, Members for Nadowli North and Nadowli South, respectively, have both offered 20 million cedis towards the rehabilitation of the nearly collapsed Issa Youth and Leadership Training Institute.
The Institute, which is located in the Nadowli District in the Upper West Region, had its roofs blown away and some walls knocked off when a rainstorm swept the area in April. Zumakpe had delivered a statement in Parliament appealing for support for the rehabilitation of the Institute.
He said; "all the bungalows of the staff, seven of them, as well as some parts of the classrooms suffered various degrees of damage". The Member said the damage would have been minimal if the structure had undergone constant rehabilitation.
"Understandably, the structures are tired and cannot, therefore, be resilient as they were in their youth."
He said: "It is also interesting to note that the institute is completely surrounded by trees with many others in the midst of the school. One shudders to think what would have happened had the institute been bereft of tree cover." The Institute was formerly a Boys' Middle Boarding School serving the Nadowli District in the pre and immediate post independent era.
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Squatters ordered to leave the James Town
Beach
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 May 2003- The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has given the squatters along the James Town Beach up to Friday, 23 May this year, to vacate the premises or face forceful ejection from the area.
This is to pave the way for the redevelopment of the Beach and to eliminate criminal activities in the vicinity. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, made the announcement on Tuesday when he answered questions in Parliament.
Reginald Niibi Ayi-Bonte, Member of Parliament for Odododiodioo, asked the Minister when all the illegal structures at the James Town Beach would be removed to make way for the redevelopment of the area and free it of criminal activities.
Adjei-Darko said the Ministry through the AMA and the Ashiedu Keteke Sub-Metropolitan Assembly since 14 May had embarked upon an educational and information campaign in the area to inform the squatters to remove their properties.
"I would like to mention that we have the support of the Chiefs and people of the area, especially the Chief Fisherman and the inhabitants, who are constantly embarrassed by the unsanitary environment created by the squatters and the harassment they suffer from them." Adjei-Darko said the security personnel and the Demolition Squad of AMA had been alerted to stand by for the intended exercise.
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