The Majority Caucus in Parliament, led by its leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has accused the Speaker, Alban S.K.Bagbin, of supervising chaos in the House.
According to him, the failure of the Speaker to direct the Minority to move to his left-hand side, as has been the practice, set the tone for chaos, but the Majority restrained themselves.
Obviously looking disappointed, Afenyo-Markin nonetheless addressed the press at the precinct of Parliament on Thursday, November 7, 2024 after the Speaker had adjourned Parliament “indefinitely” for the second time in a month.
The Effutu MP chronicled the event that ensued, including certain pronouncements by the Speaker and the attitude of his colleagues on the minority side, before accusing Bagbin of supervising chaos and bringing democracy into disrepute.
“Yesterday, Mr. Speaker himself, in his press conference in the afternoon, enumerated a number of things. Amongst them, he said he had not made a ruling. He told the whole of the country that he had not made a ruling,” he said.
“So, if he claims that what he did was a formal communication in response to a statement from the minority leader, then why is he supervising chaos in the house? What Mr. Speaker did today amounts to supervising chaos and bringing the image of democracy to disrepute,” he added.
He said that his side did not enter the chamber because the minority had occupied their seats and changed their name tags.
“We call on the Speaker one more time to demonstrate statesmanship. We want Mr Speaker to know that although we were not happy on the day that he was elected, some of our colleagues, perhaps, have seen something good that was in him.
“It wasn’t the NDC that put him there for him to do the bidding of the NDC. Perhaps, people felt that he could be someone who could bring all of us together”, noted Afenyo Markin.
Though the Speaker had made the point that seating arrangement was not his duty but that of the Clerk, Afenyo-Markin told the press that the latter had informed him they had neither changed the usual positions, nor the name tags.
BUSINESS
The reason Speaker Bagbin adjourned the House indefinitely yesterday, according to him, was due to lack of business to transact.
Coming to that conclusion, the Speaker stated that the Business Committee of the House, chaired by Afenyo-Markin as the leader of government business, did not meet to prepare the schedule for the sitting.
More important to the Speaker was the situation where the majority caucus, which had recalled Parliament in accordance with law, was absent in the Chamber.
This situation, according to Speaker Bagbin, left the House with no quorum to take a decision, though the numbers of the minority caucus, which was seated at the usual position of the majority, were enough to do business.
However, addressing journalists, the leader of the Majority Caucus, Afenyo-Markin, referred to the subject matter of the recall, which he described as “explicit” and approved by the Speaker.
“For the business committee meeting, I was very explicit that the subject matter of the recall, which was approved by Mr. Speaker, is the very matter for consideration, so there’s no need to have another business committee,” he noted.
Afenyo-Markin further explained that the “business committee is to decide on the business of the house. On this occasion you have made an application, which application has been granted and the items that were approved were the very things to be decided on. So, I directed that the order paper should be printed to reflect all those items.”
WARPATH
The Majority Leader, sandwiched by his colleague parliamentarians, claimed that events “clearly reveal the NDC is on a warpath. They want confusion in this country. They want lawlessness in this country and all these are being supervised by Mr. Speaker. It is sad.”
He assured the press that the NPP MPs will not give the NDC MPs the chaotic audience they seek, but rather will continue to respect the law.
BUDGET
The Majority Leader was particularly concerned about the need to approve the first quarter appropriation as the nation heads to an election.
He reminded the press of the ramifications of that process not being successful, stating that the NDC does not want public sector workers to be paid in the first quarter.
Beyond that, he said there is a bill to legislate the free SHS policy and tax exemptions for 1D1F companiesas part of the government’s support, all of these have to be approved before the 8th Parliament dissolves.
In view of that, the majority leader has served notice that they will recall Parliament again, to ensure that the government businesses are transacted.
Earlier in the Chamber, Speaker Bagbinhad made the following statement: “Hon. Members, unfortunately, the signatories who made the request [for the recall] have not shown up and, therefore, matters that they wanted us to handle, which I admitted for consideration of the Business Committee are not on the Order Paper and in fact, there is no Order Paper for today because the Business Committee could not meet due to absence of the people who requested for the recall.
“As you can see, one side of the House is completely empty. Of this, we have as usual got a quorum to sit but we have no business before us to transact. In view of the failure of the Business Committee to sit as a result of the refusal of those who requested for the recall to show up, we are compelled to once again, adjourned sittings of the House.
“Knowing the challenges, we are facing, it is not advisable to be adjourning from day to day and so, I would proceed once more to adjourn the meeting indefinitely and this extraordinary meeting is accordingly adjourned.”
By Maxwell Ofori & Stephen Odoi-Larbi
