Health Minister Absent From Parliament To Answer Questions

The Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament Mr. Edward Doe Adjaho on Thursday, February 21, 2008 raised concerns about the absence of the Minister of Health to answer parliamentary questions on the health sector. He said the House needed an explanation as to why the Health Minister, Major (retd.) Courage Quashiga and the two deputies were absent, without any explanation to offer answers to the questions meant for the Ministry. Mr. Kwabena Adusa Okerhcire, Deputy Majority Leader responded that the House had taken notice of the concern. Five questions on the Ministry of Health were advertised in the Order Paper, a brochure that shows the order of proceedings in Parliament on each day. Dr Mustapha Ahmed, NDC MP for Ayawaso East, was to ask the Minister why some Mutual Health Insurance Schemes had set their minimum premium payment at GHC 20, instead of the GHC7.20 permissible under the law. Dr Ahmed was also to ask the Minister when the programme to upgrade the Mamobi Polyclinic to Sub-Metro Hospital would be completed. Mr Joseph Tsatsu Agbenu NDC MP for Afram Plains North) was also to ask the Minister of Health what assistance the Ministry would give to the Volta River Authority (VRA), to run effectively Nipa Nua Hospital vessel which had been mandated to see to the health needs of the people living along the Volta Lake. Other MPs had questions standing in their names. Meanwhile, the House adopted a motion for the second reading of the Chieftaincy Bill, which had earlier been laid last October, and referred to the Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture for examination and report. The Bill seeks to consolidate amendments in the Chieftaincy Act, 1971 (Act 370), to bring the Act into conformity with the provisions on the subject in the Constitution and to include new proposals. The Bill provides for Jurisdiction and Judicial Committees, Proceedings in Chieftaincy Matters, Stool Property, Customary Law, and Miscellaneous Provisions.