According to him, the NDC should take their concerns to court instead of making unsubstantiated public allegations.

Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Tuesday after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting on October 1, Mr Amoah expressed frustration with what he described as the politicization of the EC’s work.

He also commended the EC for making the IPAC meetings open to the media, ensuring transparency and preventing political parties from distorting facts after the meetings.

“We shouldn’t politicize everything. If you have allegations, you need to provide evidence and go to court instead of wasting our time. It’s good that the Electoral Commission has made the IPAC meetings open to the media, so that there is transparency and people can’t say different things after each meeting,” he said.

Mr Amoah also urged the NDC to focus on addressing their concerns through proper channels rather than involving the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in baseless accusations.

“NDC should focus on registering their concerns with the voter’s register and stop dragging NPP into it. Saying that the EC wants to steal votes for the NPP is dragging us into the matter. In 2015, when we disagreed with the EC, we took the matter to court. The EC works with principles, so allow them to do their job and stop politicizing the Commission,” he added.

Source: Adomonline

READ ALSO:

• Osofo Kyiri Abosom slams Owusu Bempah for endorsing Mahama
• I deserve a second term to continue my development projects – Akwatia MP
• NDC’s call for IT audit on EC’s system is a ‘fair’ demand – Dr Kojo Asante

The Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government is confident he has gained enough knowledge and experience after 16 years of service.

“At the end of the year, I would have spent 16 years in Parliament, four terms, two terms in opposition, two terms in power, and I am no longer a young man.

“So sometimes you think that you should move on. Some are ready to spend more than the four terms. Some of us also think that the job is very difficult, so probably we should move on for others to take over,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM.

Mr Amoah added he would have been on retirement if he was to be a public servant.

“I am not growing any younger. If I were in public service, I would have retired. I am not a young man anymore. I am 62 years old.

“I have experienced a lot in this job, and I have a lot I can share… Having served 16 years by the end of this year, I think that I would have done enough,” he stated.

Mr Amoah withdrew from the parliamentary race barely three days to the election on January 27, citing personal reasons.

He was in the race with three others including Kwame Ofori-Gyau, Eric Samuel Annor-Mensah, and Frank Aidoo, who holds the position of Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Akuapem South.

His withdrawal was allegedly to sabotage the chance of the MCE but the MP has fought off the claims.

Meanwhile, 18 other incumbent NPP MPs including Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (Suame), First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu (Bekwai), Atta Akyea (Abuakwa South), Joe Ghartey (Essikado Ketan), and Ken Agyapong (Assin Central) will not be seeking re-election.

Over 20 others also lost their bids in the just ended parliamentary primaries, rising concerns the NPP side in parliament will be weakened.

ALSO READ:

• OB Amoah withdraws from NPP parliamentary primaries

• Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu worried over exit of seasoned MPs

However, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, says it was in the best interest of the NPP.

In a letter addressed to the NPP on Tuesday, Mr Amoah announced his decision not to seek re-election and requested his name is removed from the ballot paper.

However, the MP who doubles as the Chairman of the NPP Research Committee has pledged his active participation in party affairs.

“It is for the people to judge whether I will be missed or not, and I cannot say whether I will be missed or not.

“I have been in Parliament for four terms and have also served in the executive, gathering a lot of experience along the way. I am still active in the party. I withdrew for the national interest of the party and personal interest,” he said in a Citi News report.

He further called on Akuapem South delegates to ensure a peaceful, smooth process and rally behind the winner to retain the seat.

Mr Amoah was in the race with three others including Kwame Ofori-Gyau, Eric Samuel Annor-Mensah, and Frank Aidoo, who holds the position of Municipal Chief Executive for Akuapem South.

ALSO READ:

• OB Amoah withdraws from NPP parliamentary primaries

• OB Amoah echoes Mahama’s ‘You’ve never been president before’ in defence of govt size

According to Osei Bonsu Amoah, the failed flagbearer aspirant signed an undertaken not to go independent should he lose the election.

The Akuapem South Member of Parliament said Mr. Kyeremaren together with all nine other aspirants signed the undertaken based on Article 17(7)(f) of the NPP Constitution which debars him from contesting the presidential elections as an independent candidate.

The undertaken signed by the candidates, OB said states that “Persons who express, or indicate their interest to contest in the party’s presidential primaries and file their nomination forms, shall not offer themselves as independent candidates and they shall not under any circumstances be in breach of the undertaking.”

“In the event of a breach of the undertaking, the New Patriotic Party reserves the right to restrain any candidate from contesting as an independent candidate or as a candidate on the ticket of any other party” he added.

Based on this backdrop, OB Amoah said NPP can decide to activate the it’s right to stop Alan Kyerematen from breaching the undertaken he signed freely.

ALSO READ:

• Election 2024: Ben Ephson predicts Alan Kyerematen’s fate

• NPP appeals to NDC to return to IPAC

• Hackman Owusu-Agyemang speaks on Alan’s resignation

The position of the company is due to their dissatisfaction with the Akuapem South MP’s responses during his vetting last week.

According to Ghana First, O.B Amoah has been part of all the “processes of all projects and has all the relevant documents on these projects.”

They, therefore, find his posture and attitude towards the company disheartening, and it is about time they bring the whole truth on the matter for the good people of Ghana to know.

In the petition, the company claimed Mr Amoah was economical with the truth in relation to his responses to questions asked by Tamale North MP, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini over their projects.

The Company claimed the nominee deliberately concealed the actual truth about the entire projects and the agreements covering them.

“It is in this note that we hereby express our disappointment and dissatisfaction about the responses which Hon O.B Amoah gave on the Ghana First Co. Ltd and the Clean Ghana Project both in his two vettings which are factually incorrect and inaccurate.

“We strongly believe the minister designate was trying to hide the truth from the good people of Ghana as well as Parliament having regards to the fact that he has all the facts on these projects but twisted the facts to suit his parochial interest for Parliament to approve his nomination,” the petition read in parts.

The company added they strongly believe if the nominee gets the approval of Parliament to become Minister of State for the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, it will not augur well for the smooth running of the Ministry.

“This has become necessary for the company to do this because every Ghanaian has an interest in this project and is waiting for this project to start functioning because of its importance and usefulness to the country, and sadly the very person who has the responsibility to make this happen and to tell the whole world the truth about this project has deliberately been hiding the truth about the projects.

ALSO READ:

OB Amoah echoes Mahama’s ‘You’ve never been president before’ in defence of govt size

Stop bullying us – Ato Forson tells OB Amoah at his vetting

“From the above, it obviously clear that Hon O.B Amoah has been economical with the truth of the whole Agreement and we humbly appeal to this Honorable Committee not to approve the appointment of Hon O.B Amoah until he has made the full disclosure of the truth of the Agreement and apologize to the good people of Ghana and Parliament,” the company added.

OB says a dispassionate interrogation of the matter is needed rather than subjecting it to partisan treatment.

The Akwapim South MP believes it serves no good to just bandy numbers around and point to which government may have appointed the slimmest staff to prosecute its mandate against which appointed the most people.

And he laid down his cards with a dig into history, saying “we have never been in the shoes of a president”, echoing a personal touch to former President John Mahama’s famous retort of “You have never been president before”.

Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament to be vetted after his nomination as a Minister of State, OB Amoah was served a variety of questions, with the controversial government size and calls to reduce same coming up a couple of times.

But he argued that the government had already taken steps to collapse or merge a number of ministries, while it has also downsized ministerial appointments from about 126 to 85.

“So it’s not like the president is not doing anything about it and it’s like, the way we put it, sometimes the statements become a bit sweeping,” he said and pointed out that the President has further issued an edict to cut down on everything for appointees, including MMDCEs.

“So it’s not that the President is not aware of the austerity or nothing has not been done (sic), some may wish to do it in a different way or different style and it’s not that we used to have it so rosy that we could have, let’s say six ministers of state and the famous three wise men, but as the constitution says, the president shall appoint persons to help manage the state, and if at any point in time the president feels that this is the number he can use to manage or run the state, sometimes you have to give him the benefit of the doubt especially when we see that efforts have been made to cut down, and who knows, he may still cut down and I don’t think it should really be a major issue every time. Sometimes you get the impression that some people wish we even had only five ministries and that all our problems in Ghana will be solved but, we have never been in the shoes of a president, and indeed as I said, a lot has been done and a lot may still be done.”

In 2016 when President John Mahama faced criticisms for perceived poor performance, he told off then-presidential running-mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia that he had no idea what competence was about because he had never been president before.

Ayariga’s encore and OB’s ‘defence’

Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, asked OB Amoah if he thought the size of government, which he described as ‘a major governance issue’ riddled with amorphous offices with over 300 political appointees, and which has elicited enormous public outcry as a result of its impact on public expenditure, did not deserve a reduction.

O.B. Amoah: “The government is the biggest employer, and if the government is employing I don’t think we should even lament about it. People are being employed, people have jobs to do. We should also distinguish between those who are public servants and those who are political appointees. We should also factor in the issue that some ministries collapsed but persons have been put there – skeletons, not the whole ministry – just to see off some of these things.

“If you go to the presidency and you have somebody in charge of special development initiatives, it’s because that programme is still running and if projects have been completed, they have to see to the inspection and handing over, they are running the thing and they are not as many as a whole ministry when it was a ministry.”

ALSO READ:

Stop bullying us – Ato Forson tells OB Amoah at his vetting

Titus-Glover blasts KT Hammond over conduct at ministerial vetting

“So some of these things we may have to probably interrogate it a better way because it’s easy to just list and then say that because we have this list, government is too large. Government is really large because public servers are in government. And if you heard the Finance Minister, since NPP came into office we’ve been recruiting, giving financial clearance every time, Local Government Service, we’ve employed so many people to the assemblies, to other places and all of us, our districts would have come across such situations, so if it’s only about the size of employees, they are not all political appointees, some are public servants who, all things being equal, work till they are 60 years, till retirement, even if we the political appointees will fade off.

“So let’s have a certain kind of discourse that would bring out the issues and sometimes it’s not too good to compare… The reality is that if you compare previous governments and appointments, you may find some semblance but what is the point in sometimes saying that we employed 800 so if I’ve employed 600, don’t complain?

“Let’s interrogate it in an academic, factual way and see, obviously we can say that still some may be seen as a bit too much but I’m saying that they all have a role to play and a purpose and if we are not careful, we throw it to the public and the public – some who may not interrogate it get incited, that if this is the kind of people you’ve employed then I’ll not even pay tax… I’m saying that let’s interrogate it and we will make progress.”

The Akuapim South MP made life quite difficult for the Committee Members as he was on top of issues and was also quick to express his disagreement with some of them on certain issues.

Most of the questions came from the Minority Members including the Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza and Alhassan Suhuyini on a variety of issues with respect to the ministry the nominee was being elevated to as the Minister of State.

The nominee defended the establishment of the six additional regions and the payment of property rates, demolishing of property and the keeping of the green belt.

Mr Agbodza asked a question about the reduction of ministers, citing an interview the nominee is purported to have granted the media about the minimum qualifications of Members of Parliament.

In his answer, he referred to the NDC’s press release directing their MPs to boycott and reject President Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees.

ALSO READ:

I was approached to bribe my way to First Division – OB Amoah reveals

40% voter turnout expected in referendum – OB Amoah

That didn’t sit well with the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, who registered his reservation to the Chairman, Joseph Osei Owusu.

“Mr Chairman, Our Colleague is before us, he should answer our questions and stop bringing up NDC’s press release. Stop bullying us,” he rebutted.

The chairman came in to solve the fracas.

Member of Parliament for Tema East constituency in the Greater Accra region, Daniel Titus-Glover, has revealed how he was stopped by two fellow parliamentarians from filing a lawsuit against a food processing company in his constituency.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem Tuesday, Mr Titus-Glover said he had commenced a lawsuit against Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC), a tuna canning company in 2015 but had to drop the suit following advice from Kennedy Agyapong and Osei Bonsu Amoah.

According to him, his colleagues asked him to first have discussions with the company’s management on how to deal with the stench in the area, before proceeding with a lawsuit. 

The lawsuit against Pioneer Food Cannery was to force the company to find ways of dealing with its excessive air pollution in the entire fishing enclave.

READ ALSO:

• GRIDCO staff warn of December ‘dumsor’ [Video]

• ‘Evil spirit scare’ cause of poor local patronage of artifacts

• #SaveOurData: Ghanaians angry at Telcos over high cost of data

• Fabewoso: Adom FM’s #MyRoadMyVote team storms Ashanti, Bono regions

“What the company is doing to us is not good, if you look at the level of stench, the entire area of Tema Newtown smells. From Police Station Junction to European Market to Canoe Beach and the entire enclave of the fishing harbour – the whole place smells,” he bemoaned.

He further revealed that following the request of his colleagues, he sent a letter to the company inviting its management for discussions on finding solutions to the problem but they disregarded his invitation. 

“I sent a letter to the company’s management, wanting to engage in a discussion with them on how to eradicate the smell but they failed to even acknowledge the letter I sent them. They showed me no respect, they don’t respect me so I have changed my mind, I am going to be relentless in my crusade…,” he said angrily.

According to the legislator, the company has operated in the area for more than 40 years.

Listen to the audio above:

Source: Adomonline.com | Dorcas Abedu-Kennedy

According to him, the election of the MMDCEs is in the right direction and there is the need for Ghanaians to support the government to make it a reality.

ALSO: Listen: Slain NPP treasurer was billed for a different job on Friday

“The requirement for the referendum is that 40% of the registered voters must participate or it will not be accepted and due to the cost involved, we hope to achieve 40% turnout in the referendum,” he said.

Speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Mr Amoah, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Akwapim South constituency, explained that the elections form part of measures to deepen democracy at the local level.

ALSO: Mahama’s comment may result in parliamentary probe

“The election is expected to bring sanity to our political sphere at the local level and also give parties equal and fair chances in our democratic governance,” he said.

He added: “It will ensure security of tenure and give the people an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates at the local level.”

ALSO: Watch: Nkroful residents demonstrate over bad road

The Deputy Minister expressed hope that the hard work and education would help achieve huge turnout in the referendum.

Source: Adomonline.com | Gertrude Otchere

This is because the procedures involved in making such positions electable have not yet been triggered.

NPP manifesto promise

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) in its 2016 manifesto promised to “oversee the direct election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) within 24 months of election into office, to coincide with the next District Assembly elections in 2019.”

But it seems the promise might not be achieved as promised.

According to a Local Government Minister, O.B Amoah, for the MMDCE elections to be possible, there is a need for a referendum to be held or Article 55 (3) of the Constitution amended to  make the position a partisan one.

MMDCEs election won’t be in 2018

O.B Amoah, while speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, on Monday, stated emphatically that, the election of MMDCEs will certainly not take place in 2018.

“It is not 2018; I don’t know why this thing keeps coming up and indeed if we want to go the full hog and make the election partisan, it means we should even do a referendum to amend article 55 (3) so that we can get MMDCEs elected on multi-party basis. So we are working towards that, but certainly it is not 2018.”

“The next assembly election is September 2019, and we should be able to work towards that date. Most probably, by September 2019, we can let the referendum coincide with the assembly election so that by that time Ghanaians are voting for their assembly members, they will also be deciding that after 2019 MMDCEs should be elected on multi-party basis,” he added.

Article 55 (3) of Ghana’s constitution states that:

Subject to the provisions of this article, a political party is free to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminate information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character, and sponsor candidates for elections to any public office other than to District Assemblies or lower local government units.

The issue of election of MMDCEs had in time past taken centre stage in major discussions in the country with some Ghanaians demanding for it.

We are on course 

The Deputy Minister also noted that, the Local Government Ministry is holding series of meetings with the various stakeholders to make MMDCEs position electable.

“We are very much on course. We did one stakeholders meeting with IDEC, we are in collaboration with the political science departments to do other programmes. We are sure that by the end of the year 2017, we would have carried out some of these stakeholder programmes,” he added.

It could also mean that, the promise may not be fulfilled even within the first term of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.