… Hackman Owusu-Agyeman’s Response (Urgent Substantive Motion) To Speaker Annan’s December 9, 1998 Ruling On His “First Urgent Motion”
As indicated in our Wednesday, 20th July, 2016 edition, we promised to recollect how the then Speaker of Parliament (Justice D. F. Annan) and Members of Parliament (The House) reacted to Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman’s “Second Urgent (Substantive) Motion” calling on the House to urge “The Rt. Hon. Speaker to review his decision not to admit the urgent motion on the setting up of a Board of Enquiry to look into the allegation of improper payment to the President by the government of former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha…” in Parliament on 10th December, 1998.
In fulfillment of that promise, we continue with the play-back of the proceedings of Parliament on that fateful day of 10th December, 1998.
Stay tuned for more play-backs of the parliamentary proceedings on the subject – matter.
*Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang:
Mr. Speaker, Sir, on receiving your ruling yesterday, when it was served on me, I did submit a substantive motion in accordance with Standing Order 98, where the ruling of the Speaker can only be reviewed or challenged by a substantive motion. Mr. Speaker, the substantive motion was quite clear and I call it “Urgent Substantive Motion”, and I said:
“This House urges the Right Hon. Speaker to review his decision not to admit the urgent motion on the setting up of a board of enquiry to look into the allegation of improper payment to the President by the government of former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which urgent motion was originally submitted in my capacity as the hon. Member of Parliament for New Juaben North and the minority spokesman on foreign affairs”.
Mr. Speaker, I crave your indulgence to state that when I submitted the first motion on behalf of my group, I indicated that it was an urgent motion. It has taken a whole one month, Mr. Speaker, for this thing to be ruled upon. Subsequently, I have submitted an urgent substantive motion. {interruptions.} The grounds for this urgent substantive motion are quite clear. What I am saying is that I am requesting that this Urgent Substantive Motion asking for a review of your decision be debated here and now. The urgency of the situation, the urgency with which the whole nation is viewing the allegation, the importance of ensuring that we safeguard the integrity of the Presidency is such that we cannot allow this issue to go on unresolved. We as a House, this is the only forum where the President can be asked to be investigated; and the constitutional provisions are very very clear.
So I want to move, Mr. Speaker, with the utmost respect to you, Sir – {interruptions.} – Standing Order 78 (k) says, and with your permission, I beg to quote:
“78. Unless any Order otherwise provides, notice shall be given of any motion which it is proposed to make, except the following –
(k) any motion the urgency of which is admitted by Mr. Speaker”
Mr. Speaker, I am appealing to you that we cannot fail the good people of this nation. The allegation keeps surfacing; my bag is full of press reports, documents from the Internet, from the United States of America (USA) and the longer we keep this thing hanging, Mr. Speaker, the longer the allegation hurts this nation. I crave your indulgence that under no circumstances can this House keep postponing this issue. What is the majority afraid of?
*Mr. J.H. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, on a point of order!
*Mr. Owusu-Agyemang: What are they afraid of? All we want to do is to have a board of enquiry to find out the truth. We want the truth; nothing but the truth. Are we sacrificing probity and accountability? {uproar.}
*Mr. Speaker: Hon. Member, the Majority Leader is on the floor.
*Mr. Owusu-Agyemang: Is that what you want? Are you afraid? Let us debate the issue here and now and let us ensure that the people of this nation are not – {interruption.}
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong – rose –
*Mr. Speaker: Before you make any comment, let me say that I have received the urgent motion to ask this House to review the ruling which I have just heard. I think it is quite in order. I have also decided that it does not require notice. So now it is a question of when it could be debated. The motion reads as follows:
“That this House urges the Right Hon. Speaker to review his decision not to admit the urgent motion on the setting up of a board of enquiry to look into the allegation of improper payment to the President by the government of the former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, which urgent motion was originally submitted by the hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang.”
I have admitted it is an urgent motion which does not require notice. So now it is a question of time. When may it be heard?
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, I would like us to do things properly by following the Standing Orders of this House. You have this morning ruled to the hearing of all of us – and indeed it is a privilege of the House to hear your ruling on this matter before really it can even be taken up on the floor. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, you yourself, indicated that within 24 hours you would give your ruling on this matter in this House. Therefore, it is this morning to all intents and purposes, that this House is apprised of your ruling. And therefore our colleague opposite, hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, has given an indication now. It is only now that the hon. Member has given notice to file a substantive motion to challenge your ruling, in accordance with Order 98 of our Standing Orders. Mr. Speaker, with your permission, I will read Order 98.
*Mr. Speaker: May I intervene at this stage I made the ruling yesterday within the 24 hours; and I served it.
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, that ruling was not known to the House. {uproar.}
*Mr. Speaker: It was served – {uproar} – Order, order!
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, the ruling must be in this House.
*Mr. Speaker: No, the ruling is not on a matter that is currently before the House. It is on a matter that was before the Speaker and therefore I ruled and made the ruling available to the mover of the motion. What I have done today is to appraise the House of the ruling that I made yesterday. So the ruling was made yesterday. {hear, hear.}
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, we are not debating the ruling that you made with respect to the original motion of my hon. Colleague. No. What we are discussing now is the substantive motion to challenge your ruling. And that is the motion that we are saying now that this is the first time that the House has heard of it. And since it is now that the House has heard of it, it is only right and proper that notice be given; and the Business Committee must be given the chance to programme it for debate. Mr. Speaker, notwithstanding the fact that it is urgent or whatever, I think that it is the right of the Business Committee to determine when the motion can be taken. And in this regard, Mr. Speaker, if you would allow me to read Standing Order 98. It is very clear and I would urge my colleague, hon. Nana Akufo-Addo, as a lawyer, to listen to me as a “lay lawyer.” {interruptions.} Mr. Speaker, Order 98 reads:
“Mr. Speaker shall be responsible for the observance of order in the House and of the rules of debate, and his decision upon any point of order shall not be open to appeal and shall not be reviewed by the House, except upon a substantive motion made after notice.”
Mr. Speaker, this hon. Gentleman has just given us notice of a substantive motion – {interruptions.}
*Mr. Speaker: Order, order! Hon. Members, let us hear the arguments, for and against.
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: It is therefore proper that the Business Committee be given the opportunity to programme it. And Mr. Speaker, I think it is only fair that Business Committee be ordered by you to go into a meeting, decide the time when this could be debated. And I would propose to the Business Committee that this motion cannot be debated right now.
This motion can only be debated possibly on Tuesday next week. And this is why I want you to give us the chance, as the Business Committee, to withdraw quietly and take a decision on this matter and report back. This matter cannot be debated now. The Business Committee has the right to determine when it can be debated and therefore the Business Committee must be given the chance to go and take a decision on it and report to the House.
*Minority Leader (Mr. J.H. Mensah): Mr. Speaker, before I address the motion let me just make one brief remark. The Americans, since Reagan’s day, have had a saying – “You can run, but you cannot hide”. {uproar.} Mr. Speaker, your ruling for which we are very grateful, was on a matter that was not on the Order Paper. Your ruling was on a matter that was before you. You ruled and served a copy of your ruling on the mover of the motion, on the Majority Leader, on me; and Mr. Speaker, through the Clerk’s office. So this ruling was properly served on us yesterday. In response, the mover of the motion – {interruptions.}
*Mr. E. K. D. Adjaho – rose –
*Mr. Speaker: Hon. Adjaho, you will get the chance to respond; let us hear his argument first.
*Mr. J. H. Mensah: Mr. Speaker, it is proper that, having discussed this matter yesterday, the House should be informed of your ruling. But in accordance with established procedure, the mover of the motion submitted the substantive motion for review yesterday and we expected it to be on the Order Paper for today. It is not a matter that requires the permission of my distinguished friend opposite. It is a matter of the privilege of the mover of the motion and the rules of the House. Mr. Speaker, when a substantive motion to review your ruling has been – {interruption} – Wait, wait! Be patient. Mr. Speaker, my hon. Friend opposite, because he was so busy trying to hide, did not hear your ruling. You have admitted that substantive motion as a matter of urgency, and you made that ruling from the Chair; and he was not listening. That is his problem. Mr. Speaker, as you have just ruled, that you have admitted the substantive motion as a matter of urgency, the only question is when. Mr. Speaker, on that point, my hon. Friend opposite knows very well that the Business Committee has been seized of this matter for weeks. And he knows very well that the understanding among us was that as soon as you have made your ruling, we proceed with this business, because Mr. Speaker, everybody knows that this is a matter that cannot be left hanging forever. And this weekend of the National Democratic Congress’s congress, we should not leave this matter hanging. We cannot leave this matter hanging on this weekend of NDC’s congress – {uproar.}
*Mr. Speaker: Order, order!
*Mr. J.H. Mensah: I am requesting on behalf of the Business Committee, of which I am a member – {interruptions.} – Mr. Speaker, we understood among us, in the Business Committee, that time would be found for this motion as soon as we have heard you; and we are demanding that time be found now. There are enough Members in this House to debate the motion. The excuse of my hon. Friend was that there would not be enough Members in the House today; there are enough Members in the House today to debate the matter. And we are demanding that the matter be debated, not Tuesday, not Sunday, not Thursday; now.
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong – rose –
*Mr. Speaker: Shall we hear the lawyers before we come back to you? Hon. Adjaho then hon. Akuffo-Addo. {interruption.} Two hon. Lawyers in the House have been trying to catch my eye for some time now, so I want to give them the floor.
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, I think we are here as Members of the House and not as lawyers, with the greatest respect. With the greatest respect to Mr. Speaker, I think that should not be allowed.
*Mr. Speaker: Very well, Majority Leader. {interruption.} Hon. Adjaho then hon. Akufo-Addo. Hon. Members, these are interesting arguments. Let us hear the arguments; let us get to the quality of the arguments; the reasons that are being advanced.
*Mr. Adjaho: Mr. Speaker, I am totally surprised at the procedure being adopted. With the highest respect to your Office and to this House, it seems to me to be counter to the letter and spirit of our Standing Orders.
*Mr. Speaker: I have made my ruling on this matter. It is not a question of Standing Orders now.
*Mr. Adjaho: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Standing Order – {interruption.}
*Mr. Speaker: Hon. Adjaho, I have given a ruling and admitted an urgent motion for review. The only question now is, when.
11.35 a.m.
*Mr. E.K.D. Adjaho: Mr. Speaker, I want to serve notice that I would bring a substantive motion with regard to the procedure being adopted, in terms of the ruling, specifically in terms of Order 79 (4). I would bring a substantive motion. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
*Nana Akufo-Addo: Mr. Speaker, the Majority Chief Whip has not advanced our understanding of these matters by one iota – intention to do something. We are really not here about intentions; we are involved here with doing things, not things intended to be done. {interruptions.} Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that Standing Order 78 gives you the power to dispense with the requirement of notice on any motion that you deem urgent; and that therefore the requirement that every motion should come after a certain amount of notice can be dispensed with. And when you dispense with it, it implies, Mr. Speaker, which you have done, that therefore you also have the power to fix the time for the urgent motion; because if that were not the case, the power you have under Order 78 would be otiose. If you do have the power to determine that a motion can be dispensed with as far as notice is concerned, then necessarily incidental to that power is that power to fix when that urgent motion can be determined. It is not a matter within the preview of the Business Committee. The Business Committee deals with the normal business of this House, not matters coming under an exceptional circumstances.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, the reference to Standing Order 98 is completely inappropriate. Order 98, which the Majority Leader referred to, has to do with, as it says, order in the House and for points of ruling – {interruptions.}
*Mr. Speaker: Order, order!
*Nana Akufo-Addo: Mr. Speaker, I have the floor.
*Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, let us hear the arguments. I am in control. Let us hear the arguments first.
*Nana Akufo-Addo: Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that, what you have done, the ruling you have made on the admissibility of the motion, is not a ruling within the purview of Standing Order 98. Standing Order 98 has to do with rulings on points of order. The admission of a motion or otherwise is not a point of order, in the course of a debate – {interruptions.}
*Dr. Kwabena Adjei - rose –
*Mr. Speaker: Order, order! Hon. Kwabena Adjei, a point of order? Dr. Adjei: Mr. Speaker, you have said – {interruptions.}
*Mr. Speaker: Order, order. Hon. Kwabena Adjei has the floor on a point of order.
*Dr. Adjei: Mr. Speaker, on a point of order! You have just ruled that the matter before you now is not a question of relevant Standing Orders. It was on that basis that the Chief Whip was made to sit down. I do not see the fairness in allowing hon. Akuffo-Addo – {interruptions.} Mr. Speaker, the matter before you now is one of timing – {interruptions.}
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, by the practice of the House when you admit a motion, whether it is urgent or not, normally it is the Business Committee which determines the time. Mr. Speaker, we are departing from this practice and if it is a question of asking the whole House now to decide when this motion must be debated, I want to suggest that the motion can be debated, I want to suggest that the motion can be debated only on Tuesday. And if somebody has a counter date or some other date to suggest, he can suggest it for us to determine, as a House. Let us all vote on that matter and determine the time.
*Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, I do agree that normally it is the Business Committee that fixes the time when business may be taken. But since my ruling is going to be reviewed by the House, I thought that I should be guided by the sentiments of the House in determining when this ruling could be heard. But ordinarily, it should have been before the Business Committee, but having regard to this particular motion, which is the first time, I believe, I thought I should be guided by the sentiments of the House. So shall we agree on a date for the hearing of this matter? We give priority to the mover of the motion.
*Mr. Owusu-Agyemang: Mr. Speaker, I believe that a few things need to be clarified here. A substantive motion, as defined by Erskine May, the 21st edition, is quite clear; and my substantive motion is also quite clear as to what has to be done. You have admitted the urgency; it is urgent. Mr. Speaker, for four weeks we kept this thing in abeyance - {interruption.}
*Mr. Kojo Armah: On a point of order! Mr. Speaker, I think this very serious matter that we are debating, we need to hear all the arguments that are being put forward. Hon. Akufo-Addo was in the middle of a presentation to you and I believe it is only fair for us to hear him out before we go to other issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
*Mr. Owusu-Agyemang: Mr. Speaker, so having admitted the urgency of this motion which is entirely your prerogative, as has been canvassed by an hon. colleague here, the Standing Orders are very clear – 78 (k) – “Any motion the urgency of which is admitted by Mr. Speaker.” So when you have admitted it, Mr. Speaker, it means it is urgent; and I do not see why we should take it on Tuesday. I want to believe that the Majority Leader wants to do this because of his hurry to go to Sekondi/Takoradi for his congress. But Mr. Speaker, the business of this House, the business of this nation cannot be held to ransom because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is going to congress. When the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had to go to congress, we chose a time that would not disrupt the business of this House; and I do not think it is proper that you in the majority should – {interruptions.}
*Mr. Owusu-Acheampong: Mr. Speaker, you yourself, with the greatest respect, have admitted that when a motion is urgent or otherwise it is the Business Committee that determines or programmes it. You have said so. Mr. Speaker, you have also asked us in this House to determine the time for this substantive motion to challenge your ruling. Mr. Speaker, I have suggested that from our side, we think that the appropriate time for the debate of that motion is Tuesday. If they have any other date or time to suggest, let them suggest it and then we take a decision here, because you have ruled that this House must take a decision. Let us take a decision now. We are suggesting that the debate must take place on Tuesday. No other time would be suitable for us; it is Tuesday. And therefore, Mr. Speaker, we want you to put this thing to vote. Let us vote on it now and take a decision.
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