Minority bares teeth over Speaker’s conduct…says it may file a motion against him

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the minority in parliament may be forced to table a motion against the conduct of the Rt. Honourable Speaker, Prof. Mike Ocquaye should he overstep the mark in his fairness in the House.

“Last time we registered our protest behind the scenes, but this time we’ve been forced to go public on it. And we hope that we’ll not take the next step. And the next step, our Standing Orders is very clear in terms of how you file a motion to raise question about the conduct of Mr. Speaker. We do not want to get there. Therefore we hope that the concerns we have raised so far Rt. Hon Speaker will take it onboard,” Mr. Ablakwa said Thursday on Ekosii Sen programme on Asempa FM.

The Minority NDC Caucus, yesterday abstained from the voice vote on the motion for the approval of 2017 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana.

They had earlier indicated that they will not be part in approving the 2017 budget because of moves by the government to spend the country’s oil revenue (Annual Budget Funding Amount) in funding the free SHS policy and the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Their decision was also influenced by the decision of the government to slash down the 7.5% District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) by 2.5%.

Reacting to the position taken en-bloc by the minority Wednesday, the North Tongu legislator said ” Mr. Speaker sometimes leans towards the majority and we appeal to him to be balanced”

He said, the Speaker must take steps towards achieving a balanced and equitable administration of the House.

“We are drawing the attention of the Rt. Hon Speaker, we have a lot of respect for him, No doubt! but we want to urge him that now that he’s speaker of the House, we expect him to be balanced, and to be fair. In accordance with the rules of the House, the minority should not feel that the Speaker has joined the side of the majority. It does not build well for our parliamentary democracy.

“There are at times that the minority has had legitimate concerns about the way business in the House has been conducted. And in this case, I can speak ti this particular instance that this is the second time that the minority has felt that we have been treated unfairly.The first time was when we were taking a vote on the Appointment Committee’s report. You’ll recall that Hon. Haruna Iddrissu, our Leader was on his feet, several minutes and the Speaker did not call him, even when we drew the attention of the Speaker.

Because he wanted to draw the attention of the speaker to serious issues.

Even issues to do with procedure, as the ballot paper we were about using didn’t have the seal of the Speaker. There was almost a walk out, but the leader had to restrain members on it. And this is the second time this conduct has taken place. We are only drawing the attention of the Speaker.”