AMERI deal: Speaker ignored constitutional issues – NDC MP

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye neglected constitutional issues that were raised by the Minority in parliament regarding an urgent motion filed by MP K.T. Hammond on the $510million controversial AMERI deal, Eric Opoku, Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, has said.

The Minority on Tuesday, 1 August staged a walk-out during deliberations on the power deal.

The walk-out followed concerns raised by the Minority that they were being gagged and prevented from making contributions on the floor.

They accused the Speaker of muzzling them, thus had no alternative but to walk out as a sign of protest, Class91.3FM's parliamentary correspondent Ekow Annan reported.

Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu accused Prof Mike Oquaye of being a threat to democracy in parliament.

Speaking on this matter in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Wednesday, 2 August , Mr Opoku said: “When the Speaker gave room for the motion on the AMERI deal filed by K.T. Hammond, the Minority leader raised constitutional issues regarding the move of the motion.

“The Minority leader was saying that because the Supreme Court has ruled over that matter and also because the government is yet to conclude its probe into the deal, it will not be appropriate for Ghana’s democracy that this issue will be discussed on the floor of parliament until we get the government’s position.

"It is the government’s position that will show the proper remedy to cure whatever is wrong with that AMERI deal. But the Speaker intervened and ignored the Minority leader’s concerns and moved the motion to be referred to the committee," he said.

“In parliamentary proceedings, when a motion is moved, the Speaker will have to allow parliament to debate that issue, but the Speaker referred the matter to the committee whereas parliament has debated it, this is unprecedented in the history of our democracy in the fourth republic since 1992,” he noted.