Audio Attachment:Listen to Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu |
"I'm sad, ashamed and embarrassed to be called the Leader of the House," says Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Majority leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
His comment comes on the back of a brawl that happened in Parliament on Monday night.
Members of the House were engaged in fisticuffs while voting on the controversial E-levy bill. The Minority side did not understand why the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei-Owusu wanted to include himself while members were voting on whether the E-levy bill should be considered under a certificate of urgency.
According to them, he doesn't have a casting vote since he's presiding over the House.
Speaking in an interview on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who seemed lost for words said he is scandalized by the "embarrassing" incident.
"I’m sad and in a state of shock that this is what Parliament has been reduced to . . . it is sad and I am embarrassed and ashamed that I am the leader of the House; that this is my Parliament . . . that if there’s no understanding, things should end up in fisticuffs.
"I have no apologies to anybody . . . it was embarrassing; I'm embarrassed, utterly shocked . . . what happened was unacceptable; I'm scandalized," he told Kwami Sefa Kayi.
The deliberate absence of Speaker
Some Majority Members of the House have accused the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin of deliberately leaving the chambers for them not to have the numbers.
Speaking to this, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said he's unable to confirm if the Speaker's action was deliberate but all "we realized was that he had gone home".
" . . whether it was deliberate or not I can't tell. I only heard he told the First Deputy Speaker to take over and that he will be back soon".
Why the confusion? Graphic's Angle
The ensuing confrontation came soon after the Minister of Finance had moved the motion on e-levy bill be adopted by the House and it had been seconded.
But the Minority sought the leave of the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Andrew Asiamah Amoako, who was then presiding, to arrest the process of suspending Standing Order 80 (1) for the purposes of doing away with the notice of 48 hours.
Order 80(1) requires that no motion shall be debated until at least 48 hours have elapsed between the date on which notice of the motion is given and the date on which the motion is moved.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga, contended that Articles 106 (13) and 103 (1) and Order 192, 197 and 191 made it inappropriate for the House to suspend the Standing Orders for the bill to be taken through a certificate of urgency.
He said the point at which a bill was determined to be of an urgent nature was before its introduction in the House but the Finance Minister, at the point where he was laying the bill introducing, did not pray Parliament to consider it under certificate of urgency.
Backing his argument with the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, December 16, 2021, he said the bill was referred to Finance Committee as a non-urgent bill.
He argued that it was only when the Finance Minister appeared before the committee that he made an application to the committee to allow the bill to be considered under a certificate of urgency.
“And so the committee cannot, on its own at its meeting, arrogate to itself the power to make a determination as to the urgency or otherwise of the bill, and recommended to the House to consider the bill under a certificate of urgency.
“So, Mr Speaker, I rise to object to the consideration of this bill under a certificate of urgency on the basis of the on the Orders that I have sighted, and I urge this House to reject the motion on the grounds that it is a clear violation on the Constitution and the Standing Order of this House,” he prayed.
Dismissal
Giving a ruling on Mr Ayariga’s application, the Second Deputy Speaker dismissed the application on grounds that constitutional provisions and Standing Orders 119 were clear on such matters.
He said it was not within the power of the Speaker to determine that a particular referral to be urgent but it was the committee that should determine that a referral was of urgent nature for a bill go through all the processes of approval without a publication.
“On that understanding, I think honourable member for Bawku Central your arrest can never be taken on board; so, we would go ahead with procedural motion,” he said.
When he subsequently put the question of those in favour and against of the procedural motion, there was almost equal “Ayes” and “Nos” but the Speaker pronounced the “Ayes” as having it, causing uproar by the Minority.
Muntaka on Division
The Speaker’s decision on the voice vote prompted the Minority Chief Whip, Mr Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, to rise to challenge Speaker’s decision, using Orders 113 and 114. He therefore called for a division of votes.
But, the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said while it was within the right of Mr Muntaka to call for a division, the application was “rather too late in the day.”
“You do not wait for Mr Speaker to finish his ruling and then when we are making progress you try to invoke the rules to frustrate government business.
“Mr Speaker, what you are trying to do is not to genuinely invoke a rule for the purposes of ensuring fairness but you are invoking this rule to obstruct Parliament and frustrate business and this must not be countenanced as we have to make progress,” he prayed.
Division
Before calling for the division, the Second Speaker suspended the House briefly to the displeasure of the Minority members who shouted, sang and banged their hands on tables as the House descended into more disorder.
When the sitting resumed, the First Deputy Speaker, who took the chair, said having adopted the bill to be taken under a certificate of urgency, it was not necessary for it to have come under 108 (1).
To settle matters on Minority challenging the Second Deputy Speaker’s decision on the voice vote, Mr Osei-Owusu put to a question that all those in favour of suspending the Standing Order requiring 48-hour rule for the bill to say “Ayes” and those against to say “NO”.
“I think the Ayes have it,” he announced, but the Minority Chief Whip, Mr Muntaka, based on Order 114, once again challenged the Speaker’s decision on the voice vote and called for division.
Heeding, the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Osei-Owusu directed the Clerks at the Table to clear the lobby for the House to start with a division, instructing ministers who were not members of the House not to return to the House.
Ahead of the voice vote, he told the House that he would exercise his original vote since he was a member of the House to the dismay of the Minority.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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