There's no basis to reconvene parliament - Majority Leader snubs Minority's call

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader in parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has said that there is no basis for recovening parliament now.

According to him, parliament will resume on the 22nd of October so why the rush to reconvene by the minority.

Speaking on Okay FM’s 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, the Suame Member of Parliament explained that the Minority is trying to abuse the recall process of parliament for nothing.

"They want to recall parliament to discuss the PDS deal, but what is there to be discussed again that can’t wait for parliament to resume. There have been enough discussions on the PDS deal and that government position has been made known. So, if members of the minority are gathering signatures to have parliament recalled they have every right to do so," he said.

"They are only abusing the recall process," he added.

As the PDS scandal lingers on without a sign of government’s official report, the Minority in Parliament is gathering signatures to get Parliament reconvened over the suspension of the deal.

Ranking Member on the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and Tamale Central MP, Inusah Fuseini, explains that the PDS deal raises important national issues, thus the need to recall Parliament to deliberate on the issue as well as other cases surrounding it.

“What we are doing is collecting signatures which the constitution allows. Whilst we will be on recess for some time we believe it is important to recall the House over PDS saga since the revelations coming out require national attention. We are therefore collecting signatures to get the required number of Members of Parliament to sign up and get the Speaker to recall Parliament,” he said.

“We think that it is important for Parliament to take centre stage in this case and in other related cases surrounding the PDS agreement,” he told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Eyewitness News last Friday.

In July 2018, Parliament voted to pass the Electricity Corporation of Ghana’s (ECG) Concession agreement and following a competitive bidding process supervised by government and MiDA, PDS was selected as the concessionaire to deal with the managerial challenges in the electrical power distribution sector.

But, the suspension of the deal for fundamental breaches in the demand guarantee has sparked controversy in recent months.

Watch interview below