The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has urged the majority side of the House to allow the Minority to help them in the last days of their tenure as government.
To him, the support of the minority was crucial at the moment, as the majority leader is “limping” and the president has become “a lame duck.”
According to the Speaker, factors including the just-ended flag-bearer contest have affected the commitment of members on the majority side, which in turn hinders the progress of the work of the House.
Speaker Bagbin made the appeal to the majority on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 during the debate on the 2024 financial statement and economic policy, presented to the House last week.
“I expect the majority, who have a limping majority leader, – limping because, when you look at his back, you (the majority) are less than those in front of you. You have a lame duck president—a lame duck because you have elected a flag bearer, and loyalty and commitments are shifting. So, your president is now a lame duck president,” Bagbin said.
ATTACK
The Minority spokesperson on finance, who is the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, during the debate of the budget, described the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in ways that appeared unfriendly to the majority, to make the point that he had supervised a failed economy. His persistent attack on the Vice President compelled the majority leadership to call on the Speaker to rule him out of order.
Isaac Adongo had earlier debated that government’s GH1 trillion GDP projection for 2024 was a ruse, arguing that Ghanaians would prefer an economy with a lower GDP with less hardship.
He argued that the government impacted citizens negatively through inflation, introduction of 32 new taxes and collapsing of some banks.
Adongo then veered off to rope in the Vice President with a link to the 24-hour economy policy announced by the presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, John Dramani Mahama.
Adongo mentioned all the economic schools Dr. Bawumia attended, through to his role as the Deputy Governor, but claimed his contribution to the economic growth of the country had been poor.
“Mr. Speaker, this man, after almost 30 years of experience in economics, this is the economy he has left us. How will he understand the 24-hour economy when he has since abandoned the economy and is on digitalization?” he argued.
POINT OF RELEVANCE
The Deputy Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, stood on what he termed “a point of relevance.”
He claimed that the argument of Adongo was not relevant to the motion before the House, which is the debate on the budget, “and we are not here to debate Dr. Bawumia.”
He felt that since both sides agreed to have a decent debate following the post-budget workshop, his colleague should concentrate on the budget.
He quoted Order 93(5), which states that the conduct of the Speaker, Members, Justice Chief Justice, and Justices of the Superior Court should not be raised except upon a substantive motion, question, and others, contrary to which it may be out of order.
RULING
In his ruling, the Speaker said the Deputy Majority Leader had not “raised any relevant point of order.”
He explained that the standing order referred to specific office holders, which did not include the Vice President, “and so the Vice President is not covered by this order.”
He also said, “You need this side of the House (the minority) to support you to finish your eight years. So, if you don’t behave well, we have a difficulty in proceeding as a nation.
“Please, I expect you to cooperate. I will not allow them to bully you. I will not allow them to interject and disrupt your debate. So, let’s respect each other. Let’s listen to each other and at the end of the day, if there is any issue with decency of language and the rest, I will personally intervene and object to it. Please, honourable member (Adongo), you may continue.”
