Minority walks out of parliament

The Minority walked out of Parliament on Tuesday night during deliberations on a proposed amendment to the Local Governance Act, Act 936.

According to the Minority, the proposed amendment is part of another attempt by the Akufo-Addo government to politicise local governance.

They argue that the government want to amend the Local Governance Act 936, which will give the president the powers to sack all members of the various District, Municipal and Metro Assemblies, adding that the Act came into force about two months ago and the government never found anything wrong with sections of the Act that says the President can only revoke the appointment of members of the Assembly (a) Upon the recommendation of three-fourths of the members of the District Assembly on grounds that a member has (I) systematically neglected the duties of an appointed member of the District Assembly; or (ii) committed acts incompatible with the office as a member of the district assembly for which sufficient evidence is available; or (b) upon a complaint made of wrongdoing or improper conduct established to be true after investigation by an ad hoc committee of the District Assembly.

According to the Minority, the amendment if effected will give the president further powers at the local level to do and act as he wishes without restraint.

They, therefore, registered their protest against the amendment by walking out of the chamber during deliberations on the matter. They also wondered why the bill was being considered under a certificate of emergency.