“What is this?”
This was how the Majority Leader of Parliament, Alban S. K. Bagbin, MP for Nadowli West, summed up his exasperation when the House was finding it difficult to adopt the report of the Joint Committee on Finance and Works and Housing on the take-off agreement among Ghana Water Company Limited, Government of Ghana and the Earthwater Ghana limited (EWG) for the abstraction and production of potable water.
Mr. Bagbin could not believe that after spending the previous two hours paying tributes to the late R.R. Amponsah and Ted Kennedy and US Senator, they could not have time to discuss an issue on water.
He warned: “Let it not be said of this House that members took two hours to pay tribute to the dead and members are now too tired to spend the next one hour or so to provide water for the living. What is this?” he queried.
He said it would be an indictment on Parliament if members allowed that to happen and pleaded with them to spare some few minutes to adopt the report, particularly “when members agree that this is not a controversial issue”.
This was rebuffed by the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (MP for Suame), who explained that the Minority was not against the provision of water to Ghanaians, but wanted to exhaust all discussions on the matter before the House approved the report.
He said although the project will not come at any cost to the country, the use of NASA satellite to identify areas with enough water for abstraction by EWG exposed the country to security risks.
That aside, he said, Ghana had enough surface water that could meet the demand of the population and wondered why the rush to allow the company to operate in the country.
After a long debate for and against the adoption of the report, the First Deputy Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, put the question which was carried and the report was adopted.
The MP for Kwabre West, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, had pleaded that the agreement was too technical and needed more explanations from experts in the field and therefore asked that it should be stepped down for consideration when Parliament return later in October for its Third Meeting.
That, aside, he said the House was recalled from recess to consider only the government financial supplementary budget estimates for the year 2009.
He was supported by some of his colleagues who advanced various arguments including the lack of experts advice on the project.
The offtake agreement is to provide technical and operational responsibilities and obligations for EWG, GWCL and the government of Ghana in the exploration and production of bedrock potable water in the country.
Before that, the house had paid tributes to R. R. Amponsah, a founding member of the NPP and the Democrat US Senator, Ted Kennedy who passed away last week, aged 77.
This was how the Majority Leader of Parliament, Alban S. K. Bagbin, MP for Nadowli West, summed up his exasperation when the House was finding it difficult to adopt the report of the Joint Committee on Finance and Works and Housing on the take-off agreement among Ghana Water Company Limited, Government of Ghana and the Earthwater Ghana limited (EWG) for the abstraction and production of potable water.
Mr. Bagbin could not believe that after spending the previous two hours paying tributes to the late R.R. Amponsah and Ted Kennedy and US Senator, they could not have time to discuss an issue on water.
He warned: “Let it not be said of this House that members took two hours to pay tribute to the dead and members are now too tired to spend the next one hour or so to provide water for the living. What is this?” he queried.
He said it would be an indictment on Parliament if members allowed that to happen and pleaded with them to spare some few minutes to adopt the report, particularly “when members agree that this is not a controversial issue”.
This was rebuffed by the Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (MP for Suame), who explained that the Minority was not against the provision of water to Ghanaians, but wanted to exhaust all discussions on the matter before the House approved the report.
He said although the project will not come at any cost to the country, the use of NASA satellite to identify areas with enough water for abstraction by EWG exposed the country to security risks.
That aside, he said, Ghana had enough surface water that could meet the demand of the population and wondered why the rush to allow the company to operate in the country.
After a long debate for and against the adoption of the report, the First Deputy Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho, put the question which was carried and the report was adopted.
The MP for Kwabre West, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, had pleaded that the agreement was too technical and needed more explanations from experts in the field and therefore asked that it should be stepped down for consideration when Parliament return later in October for its Third Meeting.
That, aside, he said the House was recalled from recess to consider only the government financial supplementary budget estimates for the year 2009.
He was supported by some of his colleagues who advanced various arguments including the lack of experts advice on the project.
The offtake agreement is to provide technical and operational responsibilities and obligations for EWG, GWCL and the government of Ghana in the exploration and production of bedrock potable water in the country.
Before that, the house had paid tributes to R. R. Amponsah, a founding member of the NPP and the Democrat US Senator, Ted Kennedy who passed away last week, aged 77.
