President's call for a unified House is commendable - Owusu-Ankoma

Accra, March 5, GNA - Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, on Thursday said President Mills' call on the Majority and the Minority in Parliament to come together to a build a better Ghana is a commendable gesture.

He said this when he contributed to the debate to thank the President for the State of the Nation Address delivered to parliament last week.

He said the sincerity of the President as a person could not be doubted but added that "sincerity without action is nothing", and called on the Head of State to back his words with action.

Making reference to a statement from the Wall Street Journal, the MP accused the government of making the cost of doing business in Ghana very high and the general cost of living difficult.

The comment drew Ms. Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Trade, on to the floor calling on the Speaker to rule the MP out of order.

She said the report on the Wall Street Journal was an editorial opinion of some one which was not necessarily the reality of the case in Ghana.

When calm was restored, Papa Owusu-Ankoma again dismissed the decision of President Mills to establish offices in every constituency across the country for MPs as an act of Executive interference.

"Let this House determine the priority and give it to the Executive; this is the House of the people," he said.

He said it was the duty of the Legislature to plan the issue and present it to the Executive for consideration, rather than the President dictating to Parliament what to do.

He said being in government was a daunting task and pledge the support of the Minority to assist government to succeed for the good of the people of Ghana.

The next to attract the speaker's eye was Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, who thanked the President for his impressive speech, most especially the constitutional review.

She said the Constitutional Review Committee would look at various aspects of the document to suit modern trends, strengthen the institutions that fight corruption and tackle the issue of drugs.

Mr William Boafo, MP for Akropong, said the state of the nation address did not touch on the issues of security and defense.

He said instead of solving the employment challenges of the nation as a whole, government was embarking on what he called employment by substitution.

He also took the government on for the delay in the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Policy, saying that the totality of this was what made the state of the nation address not the best.

Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, MP for Manhyia, said the President's speech was invasive and sketchy.

He said the health system was tumbling, adding that if the government could expand the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Metro Mass Transport, the School Feeding Programme and many of the social interventions that the New Patriotic Party embarked on, it would be a condemnation on the National Democratic Congress as a social democratic party.

Mr Fritz Baffour, MP for Ablekuma South, said the President was sincere and must be believed when he said he would put together the building blocks of oil and gas based industrial architecture and that of an integrated iron and steel industry to change the country's economic paradigm. 5 March 10