1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, was nearly moved to tears on Friday, March 18, 2022, when the Minority once again raised an issue of quorum needed for the House to make a decision, and prematurely ended proceedings.
The Deputy Speaker was compelled to adjourn sitting when the Minority halted proceedings just when a motion on a loan agreement between the government and the German development bank for 20 million Euros was about to be put to a vote.
Angered by the back and forth between the two sides and the Minority’s insistence the House did not have the numbers to make a decision the Deputy Speaker adjourned the House but directed only members of Parliament present at that material moment should appear in the Votes and Proceedings for the day.
He said, “Unless there is evidence someone has been in and gone out I would not accept a situation where we come on Tuesday and we have a list of 200 people present when we never had the numbers to make a decision.”
“So please ensure that members who have been here only; committee meeting is not plenary so whether the person wrote his name or not, if he’s not in the Chamber, please make sure he or she is marked absent,” he added.
The Speaker had earlier put the question to another motion, ‘The criminal and other offences (procedure) (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which the House voted on without protest.
Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, then indicated the House was ready to take the motion for the loan facility and indicated there was an agreement with the Minority.
However, just before the Deputy Speaker could put the question, Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Bernard Ahiafor, raised an objection and argued the House did not have a quorum to make that decision.
He said, “Mr. Speaker, with all due respect we are about making a decision and the law is clear that to be able to take a decision we must have the majority of the members present.”
“I always maintain when a procedure is reached for a right to be exercised you follow that procedure in exercising the right. Mr. Speaker, including yourself we are not 138 and we will be violating Article 104 (1) of the 1992 Constitution.”
“We will be in contempt of the Supreme Court if we dare take a decision when we don’t have the numbers,” he stated.
He argued the matter he raised is a constitutional issue based on Article 104, which was clearly interpreted by the Apex Court and added, “Care must be taken; we are no longer masters of our own rules.” Deputy Majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, however, pointed to the Minority the House had already voted on one motion already without protest and quizzed whether it was a matter of pick and choose.
“Mr. Speaker, all the submissions he raised I don’t know what the legal points are. Is it that you are arresting the motion? Is that what you are doing, then say so,” he said.
Minority Whip, Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, in his submission pointed out the House did not have the number to make a decision on the earlier motion and therefore it is void.
Source: Mypublisher24.com
