By: Linda Akrasi Kotey
Mr. Kojo Adu Asare MP for Adentan
For close to 15 minutes, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Adentan, Kojo Adu Asare, had to hide under his desk in the august house like a school boy, for what members termed as improper dressing on his part.
The member was last week apprehended for the same conduct on the floor.
The case worsened when the member, in his bid to escape from the floor of the house, used the Speaker’s entrance to escape from heckling which was coming from the Minority side.
The MP for Tafo Pankorano, Anthony Akoto Osei, drew the Speaker’s attention to the outlook of the member, which he insisted, was not in the best interest of the house, especially when they had a code of conduct for members.
“Mr. Speaker, honourable Adu Asare is kneeling down under the table improperly dressed.”
He questioned why an MP should dress in such manner into the Chamber, but the members on the majority bench held fort for their colleague, insisting that the member was not in the Chamber.
This infuriated the Tafo MP, who asked the leadership of the majority to be circumspect and truthful.
Mr. Adu Asare wore a black suit and white shirt without a tie, which in parliamentary practice amounted to improper dressing. He sat at the back bench.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Joyce Bamford Addo, said the dress code of members was not bad as many members wear more African dresses and suits than they did formerly.
Earlier the Minority heckled deputy Attorney General Ebo Barton Odro when he stood up to contribute to the president’s state of the nation address, shouting, “Woyome, Woyome man” “Gargantuan Man.”
It took the intervention of the Speaker to calm the minority back benchers down, to allow the Deputy Minister make his statement.
Mr. Barton Odro stated that the School Feeding Programme had gone a long way in the lives of pupils in the Central Region especially.
He said although the programme had a lot of challenges when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came into office, they had been surmounted, taking on a new impressive colour for the betterment of the people.
According to him, the programme started as a pilot scheme in 2005, and ended in 2006, covering 64,775 beneficiary pupils. The first phase was rolled out in 2007, spanning a period of four years, from 2007 to 2010.
The number of beneficiaries of the first phase was 413,498. In 2008, the number rose to 441,191 pupils, and by 2009 had reached 580,025 pupils. At the end of the 2009/2010 academic year, the beneficiary pupils had shot up to 697,416. As at December 2011, the number further rose to 1,104,718.
“This is a gargantuan rise in beneficiary pupils,” he stressed.
He noted that currently, the programme covers 24% of all primary and kindergarten pupils across the country. “It is clear that the school feeding programme is gaining ground.”
The Deputy Attorney General suggested that as a result of its progress, there was the need for the government to look at the possibility of establishing the Ghana School Feeding Programme Trust Fund, and also give a legal framework for its existence, so that there would be some permanency and reliability in the funding process.
According to him, apart from increasing enrollment and maintaining students in school, it had also helped the local farmers to get ready markets for their goods, and also help improve the health delivery system.
