The Minority Chief Whip says his side will be forced to come before Parliament with a motion to impeach the Speaker, Prof Mike Ocquaye if he doesn’t shed off his partisan colours.
Muntaka Mubarak says even though they do not want to get to that point, they are likely to “draw the battle line” with that motion.
With just 106 members in Parliament, the Minority will need the support of over 50 Majority MPs before the Speaker can be impeached.
With that task almost impossible, Muntaka Mubarak said a motion of impeachment, even if it may not succeed, will make it clear to the Speaker that they can no longer work with him as a Minority.
The latest outburst follows an attempt by the Minority to arrest a motion by the Majority to reduce, under a certificate of urgency, a special tax imposed on petroleum prices.
Muntaka Mubarak said at the time of filing the motion, the House had not formed a quorum. He said several attempts to draw the attention of the Speaker to that fact failed.
According to him, he stood up for several minutes but the Speaker deliberately turned a blind eye, forcing the Minority Leader himself to rise, with an assured hope that at least, his position as the Minority Leader, will be recognized by the Speaker.
He too, was ignored, he suggested. Joy News’ Parliamentary correspondent Elton John Brobbey who was present in Parliament said the Minority Leader stood up for between two-six minutes but did not catch the eye of the Speaker. But when the Majority Leader rose he was spotted by the Speaker and was given the opportunity to speak.
That did not go down well with Haruna Iddrisu and when he was granted the opportunity to speak, he did not fail to register his protest, laced with threats to disrespect the Speaker in return for disrespecting him.
“I am sad the way you have treated me as Minority Leader. I stood up before the Majority Leader. You owe me that courtesy and that respect. You cannot even after hearing him, you were still not decided whether to hear me or not.
“..May I draw your attention to Order 130 and why I was on my feet. I am within the rules and within the Standing Orders and you must respect the Standing Orders…”
“You owe me every duty and every standard of care to hear me on this. Mr Speaker you are chair of this House and you must hold us together. I don’t want to ever disrespect you but if you invite me, I will.”
He had wanted to draw the Speaker’s attention to the fact that the motion had to go through a second reading before being passed.
Muntaka Mubarak told Joy News’ Evans Mensah, the combined disrespect by the Speaker to him and the Minority Leader is enough testimony that he has become “dictatorial.”
The Minority may not be comfortable to work with him, he stated.
But the Majority Chief Whip Mathew Nyindam said the conduct of the Minority Leader is unacceptable.
“The Minority Leader should not allow youthful exuberance to dictate what words he uses on the floor,” he said.
Nyindam believes Mike Ocquaye has been the Speaker, mostly accommodating of Minority views.
He suspects the Minority is taking leniency of the Speaker to be his witness.
Commenting on what happened on the floor, he explained that this is not the first time a Speaker had given deference to the Majority Leader even when the Leader of the Minority is on his feet.
According to him, under Speaker Doe Adjaho, the Majority Leader had on many occasions been given the opportunity to speak ahead of the Minority Leader only because the Majority Leader is always considered in the House as the Leader.
He does not understand why the Minority will suddenly raise issues with a practice so usual with Parliament.
Source: myjoyonline.com
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Remember you wre flogged at Tamasco for indiscipline under PNDC era? Learn to be a leader
Very "unparliamentary" language coming from people who have been parliamentarians from Adam. Poor Ghana. where are we going with all these people who now wear suit.
They will not learn from Bagdins, Yire Cheres, Avokas .If they loose their seat most of the loud mouths in parliament are good as ***barred word***.The best position is to talk less but when u open ur mouth the words should be constructive ,objective and full of wisdom but current day politician from student politics will do the country no good.We need people who have worked for about 10-15 years before entering politics ,they understand life and not novice.We have a long way with this crop of politician
Minority since the inception of the 7th Parliament has proven to be a scout of indiscipline. The have always wanted to bulldoze their way through the parliament.They must learn to be noble and decorous.
ur presence in that house is irrelevant. so if you dont mind just dont go there again. like someone said ndc is the most spoiled political party in Ghana. and it is bcos they know how to f00o0>l us the citizens due to our ignorance. now that everyone can access any information at anytime anywhere they are shaking like ple with epilepsy. we know their true colors and nobody takes them serious anymore. so they think by making noise they will be heard. they can continue to bark for all we care. ignore them. they are ed10.ts
This gentleman was a very effective NUGS President during his days at Legon. Unfortunately, he has been influenced by NDC to such an extent that he no longer articulates the views of people who are in need of progress and development. Rather he is speaking on behalf of people who have been alleged to have embezzeled state funds and are likely to find themselves in jail very soon. His constituents will vote him out come next elections in 2020.
The current minority is the worst in the history of this country. They behave like kindergarten kids.
GO AND DISRESPECT YOUR FATHER. ***barred word*** BOY
They are just bitter....they will lose their seats in the coming years....so irrelevant now and making parliament a use.le$$ institution
Fairness is not a privilege to be conferred at will but a right and obligation in any democratic exercise. When it is perceived to be tainted with bias then it loses its very essence. Any neutral person will clearly see the Speaker was biased because how could he not see that the Minority Leader was on his feet for between 2-6minutes yet immediately recognized the Majority Leader and granted him audience? They are both seated in the front seats.I think we should look beyond persons and accord respect to the office or institutions enshrined by our Constitution. By this conduct the Speaker has violated the very rules which establishes the legitimacy of his office as well as that of the two leaders of the house(Majority and Minority). Others arguing that the previous Speaker did it is totally backward. So will you allow the wrong precedent that he did to set the standard for future behavior of the august house of parliament? You have a duty and opportunity to change it.That argument is lame. We expect exemplary behavior from MPs who cost the taxpayers so much money and not childish behavior like we are witnessing now. They would have easily dragged anybody to the floor of parliament for reprimand for errant behavior yet we re witnessing errant behavior from they themselves: breaking their own rules with impunity!