The First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor’s alleged exploitation of the Standing Orders to annoy caucus members and compromise Parliament’s oversight function prompted the Minority in Parliament to stage a walkout on Wednesday.
The walkout came after the Deputy Speaker refused to allow several Minority Members of Parliament to ask additional questions on the proposed SIM re-registration process to Samuel Nartey George, the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations.
Ahiafor decided that the enquiries went against the House’s Standing Orders.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin told reporters during the demonstration that the First Deputy Speaker frequently utilised parliamentary rules to discourage Minority MPs—especially backbenchers—from properly examining government programs.
He stated, “We have observed that the First Deputy Speaker has a way of using the rules to stampede parliamentary oversight.”
“You’ve all observed that he started an attack on our backbenches. Any time our backbenchers had the opportunity to be on their feet, he would use the rules to frustrate them.”
Afenyo-Markin sought clarification on the cost and implementation of the policy, arguing that the additional questions on the proposed SIM re-registration exercise were in the public interest.
He questioned the need for a new registration drive, pointing out that the Minister had already said that subscribers would not be charged.
“They claim that people use unverifiable identities to get SIM registration cards. Our question is, at what cost? How many people were identified to have used stolen IDs?” he said.
“It’s the interest of the Ghanaian public to know how much it is costing the nation. In any event, the previous registration came at a cost, so we need to know what procurement processes are being followed.”
The Minority Leader insisted that the Deputy Speaker had misinterpreted the Standing Orders, claiming that Rule 89(1) allows for clarification-related follow-up questions based on a minister’s previously given responses.
“This is a government policy… and the rules under 89.1 allow you to anchor your supplementary question on an answer given by the Minister for the purpose of clarification,” he stated.
According to Afenyo-Markin, the purpose of the walkout was to express the Minority’s disapproval of the Deputy Speaker’s conduct of the proceedings.
“This is just our protest. We protested the posture of the First Deputy Speaker using the rules to frustrate us,” he stated.
But he made it clear that the Minority would go back to the Chamber to take part in the rest of Parliament’s activities.
“We’re going back into the chamber to deal with other business. We protested his posture on this very matter, and that is it,” he reiterated.
Source: newsthemegh.com