The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, incurred the wrath of the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who told the former that he was using his position in Parliament as a “bully pulpit.”
The heated scene occurred on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 during the sitting of the Government Assurance Committee, where the Minister for Works and Housing appeared.
According to the Minister, the MP for North Tongu, who is the Chairman of the Government Assurance Committee, accused him during the sitting of being “insincere, deflecting and introducing red herrings” into the discussion concerning the victims of the VRA dam spillage.
Expressing his discontent with the ministry’s handling of the aftermath of the dam spillage, particularly with the ongoing construction of houses by the government, the Committee Chairman, Okudze Ablakwa, said work was not supposed to delay because people were “living in distress.”
He was not satisfied with a response from the Minister for Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, that in 14 days, the ministry would visit the area and be clothed with information to relay to the committee, including appropriate timelines.
OKUDZETO OUTBURST
“This is not a matter that we reduce to political football, deflection, obfuscation and red herrings, as you are trying to do today. It’s been a year. People are living in distress. People are devastated. Fellow citizens, your contractors, after their late arrival, are even behind schedule. You are now looking at some 14-day window to go to the site,” he said.
He continued that it was not sincere for the military to be asked to move from the location, though the Minister disagreed with him that the military was ordered to relocate.
RESPONSE
Unhappy with the words the committee chairman had used, the minister did not spare a moment to give a response.
He said, “You have accused us here of playing political football, of deflecting, and of introducing red herrings into our conversation. We have to have a right to respond to those accusations that you have made. You earlier accused us of insincerity, and I suggested to you that, with great respect, without, you know, a challenge to the fact that you are chairman of this committee, and that is a committee of parliament, I mentioned to you earlier that there’s work that is ongoing.”
He continued that “within 14 days, the regional minister and myself will be back on the ground. This will not be the first time. We’ll be back on the ground to engage with the contractors and make a determination of why they are behind schedule and when they will complete.”
And when that is done, I’ll be able to clearly to this committee updated timelines of when they’ll be complete.
If we want to go into the questions of parliamentary football and deflection, I don’t think that you intend to use your committee as a bully pulpit to invite ministers and make these accusations and not give them an opportunity to answer,” Kojo fumed.
SUSPENSION
The Chairman, Okudzeto Ablakwa, did not take kindly to those words from the minister, who is the MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi, and asked him to retract and apologise.
“Honourable Minister, to suggest that I am using this position as a bully pulpit, you have to retract that because that is not what I’m doing here. I am well within my standing orders. You have to retract that. You must retract and apologise for that statement,” Okudzeto told Kojo.
“But it is okay for the chairman of the committee and the committee to accuse the minister of being insincere, of deflecting without more, and I do not have the right to answer or to say that I share a different view,” Kojo retorted.
The other members of the committee, gauging the mood around the table, called for suspension of the meeting, which the chairman granted.
