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Member of Parliament for Juaboso Constituency, Hon. Kwabena Minta-Akandoh is beaming with anger that the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye is not guarding the Minority in Parliament to keep the government on its toes.

According to him, the strength of Parliament is the Minority and as it is impossible for the Majority to criticize the government, it beholds on the Minority to make sure government stays focus in its executive duties.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu felt disappointed with the Speaker of Parliament for limiting him to just one question when the Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) appeared before parliament on Thursday.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto was on the floor of parliament to answer questions relating to government’s Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

Mr Iddrisu said: "You know the essence of parliamentary questions is significant and integral to the exercise of oversight. Your refusal to allow me even as Minority Leader to proceed can only be an effort to cripple us.

"We respect you as chair of this house; we have a responsibility as leadership to support you in maintaining order in this house . . . " Mr Iddrisu added.

The Speaker, however, responded that: “I have consistently made it clear to both sides of the House – Majority and Minority – that no one will be allowed a double bite as I said on many occasions to both the Minority and the Majority. In all honesty you all know that."

“Let me make it clear that this argument was most unnecessary and that in future what is going to happen is no leader shall have double bite at the chamber,” Prof Oquaye added.

Due to the statement of the Speaker of Parliament, the Majority Leader Hon. Osei-Kyei Mensah- Bonsu on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show explained that the Speaker didn’t mean to limit the Minority to one question but rather it is already known to the House that after questions are asked both leaders are given the chance to ask the final question.

He stressed that in the case of the Minority Leader not being allowed to ask further question, the final chance was given to the Minority Chief Whip, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak to ask the question.

He recalled that former Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Doe Adjaho made the Minority felt bias during debate as the Speaker deliberately turned his chair against the Minority and only focused on the Majority side of the house.

“As Minority leader, I sometimes stand up to catch his eye but he pretended to be reading from something; we all knew of his trick. We are human beings and so we felt the pain and on several occasions we had plans to move for his impeachment,” he recollected.

“I remember the then Majority leader Alban Bagbin approached me and told me he had heard of our plan. He said we should not allow the behaviour of the Speaker to disrupt the Parliamentary procedure; he told me that on two occasions,” he stressed.

He reiterated that “I am not an angel and I will go wrong sometimes. The speaker is also not an angel and he may go wrong as well as the Minority. If we go wrong, we should look at the law and work with it and use it to reproach us in the House.

But on the same platform, Hon. Minta-Akandoh fumed, wondering why the Minority leader was prevented by Speaker Prof. Mike Oquaye from asking the Agric Minister questions.

“ . . the strength of Parliament is the Minority. We are supposed to keep the government on its toes and it is impossible for the majority to criticize the government . . . we need a Speaker who can guard the Minority to carry out their duties to criticize the government and if we don’t, we are jeopardizing parliamentary democracy in this country,” he slated.

He maintained that it is the responsibility of the Speaker of Parliament to protect the Minority always; thus, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu should rather help to prevent the conduct of the current Speaker as he was not happy with the conduct of the former Speaker Doe Adjaho.

“It is not for nothing that we have a place where we practice parliamentary democracy where the Minority will have their say and the Majority will have their way...Majority leader should not say that it was done to him when the NPP was in the Minority position and so he is in support of the way the current Speaker is treating the Minority in Parliament”, he slammed.

Expressing his disappointment, Hon. Minta Akandoh slated that the Majority leader who is the leader of the House should be seen as the unifier and to ensure that government business will go on.

“I am shocked this morning to hear him defending the Speaker on his conduct against the Minority. As a leader of the House, he is quick on radio to talk, indicating that the Speaker has done no wrong in his conduct,” he jabbed.

“As he [Majority leader] said that Rt. Hon. Doe Adjaho turned his back against the Minority and attend to only the Majority, this one [referring to current Speaker Prof. Mike Oquaye] bow down his head throughout and not look at anybody; as if he has not seen you trying to catch his attention”, he averred.