Akwatia MP finally speaks English in parliament

Mercy Adu-Gyamfi
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwatia in the Eastern Region, Mercy Adu-Gyamfi, yesterday mesmerized parliament when she made her first statement in the august house.
Her precise statement on the distressed state of the Ghana Consolidated Diamond Company in her constituency, which was delivered with amazing confidence and calmness, earned her a prolonged standing ovation from the Majority side.
When the Akwatia MP, who has the lowest educational qualification in parliament, was yesterday called upon by the Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye, to make her first statement on the floor of parliament, it was greeted with deafening cheers from both sides of the House.
Neatly dressed in her suit, the Akwatia MP, popularly known as Ama Sey and a hairdresser by profession, thanked the speaker for giving her the opportunity to make that important statement to highlight a major problem in the constituency that affects the lives of the youth and many others in the constituency.
With backing from the NPP women caucus in parliament, the Akwatia MP said that the Ghana Consolidated Diamond Company at Akwatia that was divested to a private company in 2011 by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) is still not functioning, bringing untold economic hardship to the people in the constituency.
She said on August 23, 2011, former President John Mahama, who was then the vice president, outdoored the divested wholly owned Ghanaian company- Great Consolidated Diamond Ghana Limited (GCDGL)- which promised an injection of $100 million in a five-year period to produce one million carats of diamond every year.
“Mr Speaker, the GCDGL said it intended to establish integrated diamond mining and processing industry with the main objective of turning around the fortunes of the company to create 2,500 direct jobs and 50,000 indirect jobs,” she said.
According to her, the new company, which bought the defunct company, promised to bring on board a management team and consultants with a lot of expertise in mining, business development, finance, as well as community development.
She said that the new company also promised to put in place an action plan that would transform the company into a great mining firm in Africa but six after its inauguration nothing has been done.
“Mr Speaker, the new company has, since its beginning done no mining. Its interest has only been putting together parts of plant and machinery and selling them as scraps,” she said, adding that the company has so far sold sand and stones on all the mining sites.
She said since the new private company has failed to live up to its financial obligations after taking over six years ago, it will be imperative for the government to take over the company again to allow more serious companies to resuscitate the company to bring hope to the people of Akwatia.
As soon as the Akwatia MP had finished her statement with the concluding phrase “Speaker I am done”, the majority members of jubilated and gave her a prolonged standing ovation.
The Akwatia MP was publicly ridiculed on Independence Day especially by the opposition NDC members when she struggled to put sentences together to address the parade even though her speech had been written.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr

Source : dailyguideafrica.com