The Majority chief whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has criticised the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin over his directive on Thursday instructing the House to halt agreements relating to COVID-19 transactions and projects.
The Speaker said until the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta appears before the House to account for COVID-19 expenditure during the pandemic his directive remains active.
He gave the directive during the consideration of a motion in Parliament for a financial agreement between the government of Ghana and the European Investment Bank for an amount of €75 million for the COVID-19 health response Ghana project.
However, in an interview with Asaase News, Annoh-Dompreh said the Speaker does not have the authority to issue such directives.
“You recall the Speaker had ruled that he’s given a directive that unless the finance minister comes to the House to more or less give an account of monies released in relation to COVID, he’ll not allow for that agreement or motion to be taken.
“I also felt it was a bit unfortunate because the Speaker has no persona on his own. For those of you who have followed Parliament, such a decision has to be the sense of the House. So, he communicates the sense of the House, but he cannot communicate his own decision, especially when the speaker is not a Member of Parliament,” he said.
He added that “so, we are Members of Parliament, the speaker is presiding and he is expected to convey the sense of the House. The sense of the House at the material time was that the question should not be put.”
Listen to Annoh-Dompreh in the attached audio below:
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
99.5 in Accra, 101.5 in Bawku, 99.9 in Bimbilla, 100.3 in Cape Coast, 90.7 in Ho, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 89.5 in Tarkwa and 106.9 in Walewale
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
