Ken Ofori-Atta
The Finance Minister will present the budget for 2020 to Parliament on November 14, 2019.
Besides the budget, the House will deal with a number of bills, treaties, regulations, conventions and agreements.
Bills to be considered include the Affirmative Action Bill, 2019; Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2019; Narcotics Control Commission Bill, 2019; Judicial Service Bill, 2019; Petroleum Exploration and Production (Amendment) Bill, 2019; Office of Special Prosecutor (Amendment) Bill, 2019; Education Regulatory Bodies Bill, 2019; Pre-Tertiary Education Bill, 2019; Ghana Fertilizers Development Bill, 2019, and Ghana Fertilizers Company Limited Bill, 2019, as well as Constitution Amendment Bills, 2019.
Apart from that, the House will consider the following instruments—Chieftaincy (Membership of Regional House of Chiefs) Instrument, 2010; Tourism (Tourist Sites) Regulation, 2019; Meat Inspection Regulations, 2019; National Youth Authority Regulations, 2019; National Sports Authority Regulations, 2019 and the Ghana Armed Forces (Amendment) Regulations, 2019.
The Speaker, Prof. Mike Oquaye, also announced that the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley, will pay a state visit to Ghana from November 14-16, and will address Parliament as part of her visit on Friday, November 2019.
He also told the Members of Parliament (MPs) that the Speaker’s Breakfast Forum for the meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 30, in collaboration with the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family.
Mrs. Sharon Siater, who is a renowned advocate against the implementation of the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), will speak at the Breakfast Forum.
The Speaker announced that the Parliamentary Service Board had given approval for Parliamentary Staff Housing Loan Scheme which would enable staff to access loans for building, purchase and refurbishment of their houses while an agreement has been reached with Rehoboth Properties Limited to give mortgage facility to staff members who do not own their own houses so that all staff members will own houses before retirement.
The Speaker used the occasion to plead with MPs to brace themselves up for the heavy work ahead of them before the House breaks for the Christmas holidays.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said the Minority National Democratic Congress was ready to scrutinize the upcoming budget which is critical for the election year and also put the government on its toes and make it accountable to the people of the country.
The Deputy Majority Leader, Adwoa Safo, also pleaded with her colleagues to emphasize parliamentary duties to enable the House to complete its business for the meeting before recess.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr