TRONVOLL MEETS PRESIDENT KAGAME OF RWANDA
On Tuesday 7 July, in conjunction with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame’s official visit to Norway, the Norwegian African Business Association (NABA) hosted a closed dinner for Norwegian private sector leaders with operations in Eastern Africa.ILPI Senior Partner Prof. Kjetil Tronvoll was among the guests and discussed the investment climate in Rwanda and East Africa, as well as other issues, with Kagame.
As ILPI is conducting political and security risk analysis and assessments for international multinational companies in the region, Tronvoll asked Kagame how he assessed the potential ramifications of the current crisis in Burundi. Kagame played down its impact on Rwanda and the broader region, and argued that the political ramifications were domestic to Burundi and could be contained. He was clear however on ‘who’s to blame’, and emphasised: “If politics is wrong, things go bad. If politics is correct, it will mitigate divisive factors.”
Margaret Gyesiwah Annan
PETROLEUM REVENUE MANAGEMENT BILL PASSED
Parliament has passed the Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment) Bill 2015, which seeks to address some inconsistencies and operational challenges in the management of revenue from the oil and gas sector.
The Bill, which was passed in the House yesterday after its Third Reading, seeks to, among other things, ensure that the implementation of the previous Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815 was generally in conformity with the intendment of the drafters.
According to the Deputy Minister of FINANCE, Cassiel Ato Forson, who moved the motion for the Third Reading, the bill would not only correct the typographical and other errors in Act 815 but also ensure consistent flow of revenue from the petroleum sector for national development.
The amended version of the petroleum revenue management regime also provides for the allocation of funds from the petroleum revenue to the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund for the purposes of infrastructural development.
A report by the House’s Committee on Finance, chaired by James Klutse Avedzi, who seconded the motion for the Third Reading, noted that the Bill would make the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), an operator in the field and empower it to borrow on the strength of its own balance sheet and not to rely on central government guarantees.
It further noted that the amendment bill did not change the substance of Act 815, but clarified some issues for smooth implementation of the Act.
Members such as the Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, lauded the bill but cautioned that as much as the bill was empowering the corporation to borrow on its own balance sheet as a state-owned enterprise (SOE), it is important to make a provision to hold management of the corporation accountable.
“We should empower them to stand on their feet on one side but we should also hold them to account,” he said, during the debate on the Second Reading of the bill.
The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who also threw his weight behind the amended version of the bill, urged his colleagues to be cautious in passing certain laws so that they would not be returned to the House later for amendments.
During the debate on the bill, the Minority Leader observed that the House had, on some occasions, passed certain laws without cross-checking the clauses to ensure that their implementation would not create operational challenges.
He suggested that the rules of the House should be structured in a manner that would give members the opportunity to re-assess the amendments they proposed to bills after the Consideration Stage before their Third Reading.
“We need to find space to sniff out all the amendments before the Third Reading”.
“After the Consideration Stages of bills, we should be able to look at what we have done again”, he said.
Ghana is sour under Mahama – NPP
Sammy Awuku, National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) says Ghanaians have lost the last vestige of hope it has in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.
According to him, building confidence is a psychological game and involves putting in place practical measures such as “cutting down waste” and other factors which the current administration has failed to do so far.
Margaret Gyesiwah Annan
CHAPTER 004
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REBUPLIC OF GHANA 1992
11(1) The laws of Ghana shall comprise-
(a) this Constitution;
(b) enactment made by or under the authority of the Parliament established by this Constitution;
(c ) any Orders, Rules and Regulations made by any person or authority under a power conferred by this Constitutions;
(d) the existing law; and
(e) the common law.
(2) The common law of Ghana shall comprise the rules of law generally known as the common law, the rules generally known as the doctrines of equity and the rules of customary law including those determined by the Superior Court of Judicature.
(3) For the purposes of this article, “customary law” means the rules of law which by custom are applicable to particular communities in Ghana.
(4) The existing law shall, except as otherwise provided in clause (1) of this article, comprise the written and unwritten laws of Ghana as they existed immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, and any Act, Decree, Law or statutory instrument issued or made before that date, which is to come into force on or after that date.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the existing law shall not be affected by the coming into force of this Constitution.
(6) The existing law shall be construed with any modifications, adaptations, qualifications and exceptions necessary to bring it into conformity with the provisions of this Constitution, or otherwise to give effect to, or enable effect to be given to, any changes effected by this Constitution.
(7) Any Order, Rule or Regulation made by a person or authority under a power conferred by this Constitution or any other law shall-
(a) be laid before Parliament;
(b) be published in the Gazette on the day it is laid before Parliament; and
(c ) come into force at the expiration of twenty-one sitting days after being so laid unless Parliament, before the expiration of the twenty-one days, annuls the Order, Rule or Regulation by the votes of not less than two-thirds of all the members of Parliament.
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