The Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, accused the Minority of putting media attention ahead of getting answers from the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG).
He said that following the Minority’s walkout during proceedings on Wednesday, July 15.
Speaking to journalists following the event, Mr. Ayariga contended that Parliament’s custom of holding private meetings with independent constitutional bodies during Committee of the Whole sessions was incompatible with the Minority’s demand that the meeting with the BoG Governor take place in public.
“If you read our Standing Orders, it says in Order 266 that meetings of committees shall be held in public except otherwise determined by the committee. So I asked them to convince the entire committee to sit in public. But if you don’t convince the committee to agree to sit in public, you cannot force a committee to sit in public,” he said.
He argues that even though the Minority cited a Bank of Ghana Governor’s prior public appearance before Parliament, they were unable to convince the Committee of the Whole to adopt a similar arrangement before opting to leave.
Mr. Ayariga refuted claims that Dr. Johnson Asiama, the governor, was trying to evade examination, stating that the governor had prepared answers to the queries Parliament planned to pose and was prepared to provide the material to the media.
He maintained that the Minority’s members would have stayed in the chamber to speak with the Governor if accountability had been their top goal. Rather, he claimed that their behaviour showed that they were “more interested in the media optics” than getting clarification from the head of the central bank.
Additionally, the Majority Leader emphasised that parliamentary procedures must be governed by the Standing Orders rather than the preferences of individual members, criticising what he called the Minority’s disrespect for these procedures.
He said, “If you want to do that, you have to approach us, you have to work with us, and we will all agree that this is how we are going to do it.”
After the Minority objected to First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor’s choice to have the BoG Governor’s briefing behind closed doors, Mr. Ayariga made his remarks. The Minority suspended its participation in the Committee of the Whole proceedings and left as a result of the disagreement.
Source: newsthemegh.com