Members of Parliament from the Minority side staged a walk out from the house on Friday, November 16 while debates were still going on with regards to the creation of new regions in the country.
According to the Minority, the walkout was necessitated by the Speaker’s decision to prevent Member of Parliament for Adaklu, Kwame Agbodza from making contributions to the debate.
The Minority is of the view that Government must make the report of the Justice Brobbey Commission available to Parliament to aid the debate on the creation of the six new regions.
Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu argued that, without copies of the Justice Brobbey’s report, they cannot hold any meaningful discussion and fully examine the Constitutional Instrument before them.
“We are not, and I repeat, we are not against the creation of the regions. We certainly cannot be, because we support devolution of power, we support decentralization.
“We support deeper decentralization…Mr. Speaker, preliminary, our objection is, Minister for Regional re-organization I understand that you have supervision over this, make a copy of the Justice Brobbey Commission on Inquiry report available to us, to guide us.
“This is a C.I based on the report; you are asking me to go into the theatre in darkness, that is what you are asking me to do,” Haruna Iddrisu stated
But Minister of Regional Reorganization and Development, Dan Botwe in a counter argument said the President hadn’t breached any regulation by not making the Commission of Inquiry’s report public, since the six months’ time limit hasn’t elapsed.
The Speaker at this stage put the question to vote with the Minority attempting to arrest the motion but in vain, they couldn’t catch the Speaker’s eye.
For more than twenty minutes, Adaklu MP Kwame Agbodza and later Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak and subsequently Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu weren’t successful in their bid to catch the attention of the Speaker.
Mr. Agbodza who was not happy about being ignored, accused the speaker of being bias.
“The Speaker Professor Mike Aaron Quaye ignored me for the period…My colleagues stepped out, indeed even the Majority; this is not all the number.
“All Mr. Speaker could have done, all I requested from Mr. Speaker was to listen to me or even rule against me, that would have been the tenet of democracy, but you ignored me as if we don’t exist.
“Mr. Speaker, that cannot be right. I do not expect Speaker to pretend that he did not see me or any of the members on the Minority side,” Mr. Agbodza furiously protested.
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu also said Parliament must at all times be governed by rules and standing orders, hence, the Speaker acted in bad faith.
“I cannot imagine or accept why the Speaker will fail to recognize Kwame Agbodza and the Chief Whip when they were on their feet to draw attention as to whether Parliament and as a house has constituted, had the numbers as requested by the constitution to take a major decision such as the creation of new regions or consequential resolutions on other matters.
“As leaders, we have the duty to help the Speaker to maintain order in the house. I stood up; he clearly ignored recognizing me as the Minority leader. We all know in this country that the burden of oversight based on the Architecture of the 1992 Constitution rests solely on the Minority,” Mr. Iddrisu argued as he led his people to walk out.
Source: 3news.com