<<Print>>

The Minority in Parliament on Thursday questioned the integrity of the Speaker of Parliament Edward Doe Adjaho, accusing him of plotting to prevent a motion it filed seeking an inquest into the sale of Merchant Bank Ghana to Fortiz Equity Fund Limited. The side, who described the Speaker�s decision to disallow the motion as �just one side of the equation�, imputing bias in his conduct and alleging that his ruling on the issue had been prepared long before Parliament sat last Monday. �It took the Speaker 15 minutes to read a ruling in which he cited many authorities and which he alleges to have researched and written in one hour...A ruling usually take into consideration issues raised or expressed by parties in a matter. �It is significant to note that the ruling from the Speaker represented one side of the equation. Clearly, that ruling had been prepared before Parliament sat that fateful Monday�, Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said at a press conference in Accra. The Speaker last Monday dismissed a Private Member�s motion by the Member for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul, backed by 80 other Minority MP�s, which sought Parliamentary investigate into the sale and acquisition of Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG) by Fortiz Equity Funds. Mr Adjaho reasoned that both the Legislature and the Judiciary could not determine an issue simultaneously and that the House stood prejudicing the outcome of a case that was presently before a law court if it admitted the motion that sought to scrutinize the transaction. The House was recalled from recess by the Speaker pursuant to article 112(3) of the Constitution. And the Minority also sought to invite the Governor of the Bank of Ghana and the Board of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to appear before Parliament to answer questions on the sale of Merchant Bank Ghana (MBG). The Speaker rested his decision on Order 93(1) of the Standing Orders of the House that enjoins the legislature not to deliberate on issues in court in such a manner that, that discussion would prejudice the parties to such cases, and guided by previous rulings on such cases by his predecessors and other jurisdictions. The Minority also alleged that the Speaker pretended to encourage both sides of the House to find a common ground on the matter but later evidence pointed to the fact that there was a well rehearsed conspiracy to prevent the motion from being moved. Furthering their argument to buttress their point, they said, the fact that national officers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), coupled with the contents of the address, the majority side made at a press engagement moments after the Speaker�s ruling which could not have been penned in at that such short time, pointed to the conclusion that �a plot had been hatched to prevent the motion from being moved�. But the Minority insisted that the Speaker had shown bias and unfairness in his decision, especially when he had not heard the merits of the motion that the side had sought to move. They however, said they were not perturbed by the Speaker�s ruling, declaring their intention to launch a full-scale investigation into the matter to ensure that Ghanaians and those whose pensions the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) held in trust had value for their money. �We want to assure the good people of this country, especially contributors to the Scheme who rightly believed that the state had resorted to the vehicle of the SSNIT to guarantee their economic security pursuant to Article37 (6) (a) and (b) and who feel frustrated by the unfolding events that we in the Minority Group in Parliament are not perturbed by the gymnastics of Black Monday at all�.We will stand by the people; we will stand by the truth�, said Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu. He said the Minority as representatives of the people were doubly resolved to protect and preserve public property and expose and combat misuse and waste of public funds, insisting that even though the majority had used their numbers to stifle official parliamentary investigation into the deal, they would investigate the matter thoroughly and make their findings known to the public in due course. They appealed to the public to furnish it with any material evidence relating to the transaction, assuring that the inquest is not to stir the hornets� nest or witch-hunt anybody or undermine legitimate process.