Source: newsthemegh.com
After the Speaker of the House adjourned the House sine die on March 20, 2024, members of the Majority Caucus started the process of demanding a recall of Parliament.
The majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, told the media in Parliament Wednesday that the caucus members had to exercise their constitutional right under Article 112(3).
“Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article, fifteen percent of Members of Parliament may request a meeting of Parliament, and the Speaker shall, within seven days after the receipt of the request, summon Parliament.” says Article 112(3)
“We are invoking our right under the law in good faith. As far back as April 8, 2024, I, on behalf of colleagues, sent a memo to Mr. Speaker.
“In that memo, my humble prayer to Mr. Speaker was for him to exercise his discretion under the powers given him under Orders 58 and 59 of the Standing Orders of Parliament,” he noted.
The Majority Leader stated that they had no choice but to assert their legal rights because, regrettably, his prayer had not been answered.
There is also room for this constitutional requirement in the recently adopted Standing Orders of Parliament, Order 53.
“So we are fortified by law to proceed with our prayer. Therefore, in terms of these, we have initiated the process to trigger this and we do so in good faith and for the good of our democracy.” Mr Afenyo-Markin said
He asserts that they are aware that the Minority Caucus members disagree with them over the recall, saying, “We can’t take those views away from them.” We are not the same, after all. “We are two political parties competing for power.
They have their ideological views and we have ours. I will not fault them, if on this occasion they disagree with us.
“In any event, we work together and in politics expect disagreement. But such disagreements should not obstruct us. We have our 138 as a majority and should be able to carry government business,” he added.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin gave an explanation for why Parliament should be summoned back, stating that three matters of critical importance to the administration were scheduled to be taken up at the moment the House adjourned sine die.
He listed the following: a motion on additional financing agreement between the Government of Ghana and IDF for an amount of $150 million to finance the ongoing Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project; the adoption of the 34th Report of the Appointment Committee on the President’s nomination for appointment as Ministers, Regional Ministers, and Deputy Ministers; and a request for tax exemptions for beneficiaries under the One District One Factory (1D1F) program.
The Majority Leader said that the House had decided to accept the report on the President’s nomination and that voting on the motion was the only thing left to do.
He said that the House had passed a motion on the report on the $150 million for the GARID project, and the Finance Committee had finished its work. The Works and Housing Committee had voiced some opinions, and the Speaker had suggested that the matter be remanded to the committee so that the committee’s leadership could include their perspectives in the report.
“This was done and all that was left is for this item to be taken so that the government can access the concessional facility to shore up our forex,” he added.
“We are all aware that unemployment is a major issue in this country. Job creation can never be guaranteed in the public sector.
“If we over-rely on the public sector for job creation, our economy will crash. There is going to be consumption throughout without any investment,” he stated.
He continued, “You may recall that somewhere in 2013, the then President, John Dramani Mahama lamented how we were spending all our tax revenues on public sector wages.”
“This government came out with a paradigm shift to encourage the private sector to create employment and that is how the 1D1F policy was introduced.
“We have a number of companies who got attracted by this and have started building factories in Ghana. They have gotten into various stages and there is an urgent need to have these tax exemptions in place for them.
“It is not a freebie or a waste of money. It is rather giving money to the private sector to grow,” he stressed.
“When you introduce such incentives, it is also to enhance production and create the necessary space in the liquidity of the companies so that they can employ more and expand.” he added.