NDC MP accuses majority leader of not being a unifier

Lawmaker for the people of Juaboso Constituency has slammed the Majority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu for putting up a defence for the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye on his directive not to allow both Majority and Minority to have ‘double bite’ in the House.

The Speaker on Thursday July 27 had ruled that: “I have consistently made it clear to both sides of the House – Majority and Minority – that no one will be allowed a double bite as I said on many occasions to both the Minority and the Majority. In all honesty you all know that.

Dissatisfied with the directive of the Speaker of Parliament, the Minority in the House have threatened to file for his impeachment; accusing him of undermining the neutrality of the country’s Legislative House.

But the Majority Leader on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show averred that the directive of the Speaker is not meant to deny the Minority in the House from asking questions but rather meant to maintain order so that the debate in the house is not over stretched.

He added that the Speaker simply meant to check both the Majority and the Minority in order not to abuse the final questions they normally asked after opportunities have been given to every member to ask questions.

Reacting to the defence put up by the Majority Leader on the same platform, Hon. Kwabena Minta-Akandoh indicated that this is not the first time Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu is putting up such a behaviour; he usually stands on the floor of Parliament to use abusive and denigrating words against the Minority side of the House.

“This is not the first time the Majority leader is putting up a behaviour which I don’t like. He stands on the floor of Parliament to say that someone has an optical illusion. He recently insulted the Minority when the EC boss came to the House to answer some questions. He said we have wax in our ears to hear. If he says something in Parliament and someone responds outside Parliament, the person will be called to the Privileges Committee”, he opined.

He insisted that inasmuch as Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu is his leader in Parliament, he [Majority leader] must realise the difference between the Majority and the Minority.

“The Majority leader should be seen as a unifying factor and it is the Minority leader who should be seen striking on the floor of Parliament and so it is not in the place of the Majority leader to insult and speak harshly; he is supposed to be persuasive to unite the House”, he insisted.

He has also emphasized that Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu does not possess the character of a good leader as shown by past Majority leaders in Parliament.

“As he said, Bagbin as Majority leader approached him to sympathize with him when then Speaker Doe Adjaho was bias towards the (then) Minority, it is a clear characteristic of a good leader...he must know that if Parliament is weak and continues to be weak, posterity will never forgive him; he is supposed to make this Parliament strong. He must push government business and he has a role he must play; in fact he is the Minister of Parliament Affairs...the Majority leader feels he is wiser than everybody. It is only respect we accord him and it is a privilege he has as a Majority leader and maybe some of us will have performed better than him if we were the Majority leader...his mannerism and the way he throws his hands on the floor Parliament seem to portray that he commands all the wisdom in the world”.