MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said the Minority will be filing an official complaint to the Speaker of Parliament for the ‘disrespectful’ encounter with the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong over the picketing by the food suppliers.
According to 3News.com, the MP, Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that Parliament can decide not to do business with any minister who disrespects the legislature, implying that Bryan could face disciplinary action.
“When I told him that we know what we will do, I meant tomorrow morning we will be formally reporting his conduct to the Rt Honourable Speaker and we will be asking Parliament to take a serious view of that because we don’t want this very terrible precedence, bad conduct to be seen by other ministers.
“So, we will be formally asking the Speaker to act. Remember that Ministers can be disciplined, parliament can even decide that we will not entertain business from ministers who misconduct themselves to Parliamentarians and we can even decide that any matter that will come from his ministry will not be approved if he does not quickly come and render an apology,” he is quoted to have said.
It can be recalled that the Minority in Parliament, led by Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, stormed the NAFCO office on Friday, July 7, 2023, demanding answers as to why the picketing food suppliers had not been paid their arrears.
Other MPs in the minority who accompanied their leader were MPs for Juabosso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh; North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah; Adaklu Kwame Agbodza.
The move by the minority didn’t sit well with the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, particularly with the way his colleague parliamentarians confronted him.
“You are a former Deputy Finance Minister, what do you know about these payments? What do you know about payments that have been delayed?
“This is not the route to solve this problem. This inorganic picketing should not be accepted and encouraged,” the unhappy Bryan is quoted to have told Ato Forson.
However, the MP Juabosso, Mintah Akandoh indicated that the minister should be the last person to get angry as the minority is only trying to find a solution to the challenge.
“You should be the last person to get angry, we are finding a solution”, he said.
During an encounter with the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Okudzeto Ablakwa said, “We know what we will do in Parliament.”
NW/WA
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