Ghana was projected to rake in US$3 billion from Cannabis in 2023, until the Supreme Court declared the law controlling the sector null and void.
The Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, who said this in Parliament on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 also indicated the court’sdecision had “disturbed” the plans of government to leverage that sector industrially and medicinally.
According to him, the country may not have run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the same US$3 billion for three years, when the cultivation of cannabis, also known as ‘wee,’ could generate that in a year.
“But, Mr. Speaker, if we were not disturbed by this judgment, we were projected to earn $3 billion from theCannabis cultivation in 2023. We would not have gone to the IMF for that $3 billion, because $3 billion a year is what we would have achieved in 2023, and yet we have gone for $3 billion [from the IMF] for three years. And therefore, we have already lost time,” he said.
The Minister for the Interior was moving the motion for the second reading of the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023 which he laid last week and was referred to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
The committee submitted its report yesterday, recommending to the House that it passes the bill.
In his comments, the minister told the House that the particular section ruled on by the Supreme Court was going to provide employment and other benefits.
He made it clear that the amendment was just a single clause for the industrial and medicinal use of cannabis, which was declared void by the Supreme Court.
He thus encouraged his colleagues to support the bill to help “restore Section 43 of the law” to benefit the entire nation.
URGENCY
In its report, the Committee determined that the bill was of an urgent nature and recommended that it be taken under a Certificate of Urgency, in accordance with Article 106 (13) of the 1992 Constitution.
Section 13 of Article 106 waives some of the processes a bill goes through before passage, particularly the fourteen-day gazette.
The Committee said the urgency of the bill emanates from the “numerous benefits Ghana stands to gain by empowering the Minister of the Interior to regulate the cultivation of cannabis with not more than 0.3% THC content on a dry weight basis.”
UNFORTUNATE
The Majority Leader and the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, commenting on the committee’s report, described as “unfortunate” the Supreme Court decision that had occasioned the amendment.
He explained that the reasons given by the Court that there was “lack of debate” on Section 43 of Act 1019 amounted to a violation of the law.
The Suame legislature posited that the Apex Court may not have had a better understanding of the proceedings of the House in the passage of bills, before making such “profound statements” to back their judgment.
He quoted Order 128 of the Standing Orders of Parliament to explain that the House at the Consideration Stage of a bill may make amendments or not. He read Order 129, which allows the Speaker to call each clause without amendment, to put the question for it to stand part of the bill.
“Mr. Speaker, I repeat, if no amendments are offered, Mr. Speaker shall, after each clause has been called, put the question that clause so and so, in this particular case, clause 43, stand part of the bill. And if the members do not negate it with a no response, then the clause shall stand part of the bill. That indeed is what happened on that day,” he submitted.
He stated that the House has adopted pre-laying consultations before bills are laid, purposely to reduce the delays the bill may witness on the floor.
Meanwhile, the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, deferred the question on the second reading of the bill to today, Wednesday, July 11, 2023.
He said he agreed with the submissions of members “but in the circumstances I will not be able to put the question. What I can do is defer the question on the second reading and that could be done tomorrow,” he directed.
