Minority Whip, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak clashed with Member for Atwima Mponua Constituency, Isaac Kwame Asiamah on the floor of Parliament on Thursday when the latter accused him of behaving like a headmaster.
The Whip had requested the Atwima Mponua MP to present his report as required by the rules and leave out the commentaries because the Motion being considered demands him to simply read the report to the House.
The Whip’s suggestion did not go down well with Mr Isaac Asiamah who claimed his colleague was behaving like the headmaster of the House.
“Mr. Speaker, this is my fifth term in this House and so I am an experienced legislator and he knows it. I came here when I was 29 years so I know the rules. Let him know I am complying with the rules .”
“He should respect colleague members, Mr. Speaker. Are you the ‘HEAD MASTER’ of this House? You are behaving like a headmaster and it is unfair,” he retorted.
The altercation ensued when the Housing was debating a Motion for the adoption of a Report of the Committee on Works and Housing on a €65 million loan facility to finance the Tarkwa Water Supply Project.
Chairman of the Committee, Isaac Asiamah, who moved the Motion and was to present the Committee’s report rather chose to make commentaries, which the Minority Whip sought to correct.
Hon. Muntaka argued per the rules, the Chairman was only required to present the Report and read portions if he so wishes but is not required to comment on the contents.
“The Report has been distributed and he is supposed to present it. He himself rightly said he wants the Hansard Department to capture the report as having been fully read while he reads sections.”
“Now he is not reading the sections but is speaking to the report and making statements that are not in the report. If he wants to do that our rules allow him but that is after he has presented the Report to the House and it has been seconded. So he should kindly just present the report to us and then later he can come back to comment; just comply with the rules,” he said.
The Minority Whip’s reminder, however, did not go down well with the Chairman who retorted he is an experienced 5th term member and is complying with the rules.
The situation escalated after the Hon. Muntaka volunteered the copy of his report to a member who was contributing to the Motion, which infuriated the Atwima Mponua MP further.
He called out the Whip and demanded him to respect colleagues and repeatedly questioned whether he is the headmaster of the House, which the Asawase MP did not take kindly to and responded the Chairman is rather behaving like a first-timer.
He said, “He claims to be a fifth-timer but he is behaving like a first-timer because if he cares to know a whip is in charge of discipline, not only in the Chamber but of all members.”
This response sparked another round of exchanges and the Chairman demanded an apology from the Whip.
2nd Deputy Speaker Andrew Amoako Asiamah, who presided directed the Minority Whip to apologize and withdraw the first-timer comment and also directed the Chairman to withdraw his headmaster comment, which both did.