Member of Parliament for Banda and Deputy Minority Chief Whip of Parliament Ahmed Ibrahim has accused the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, of “controlling and misleading” the Speaker of Parliament, Aaron Mike Oquaye.
This is in response to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs’ earlier claim that the Minority in Parliament are being micro-managed by the former Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho.
The Minority in Parliament on Thursday – led by their Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak – threatened to impeach the Speaker of Parliament for what they say is bias against them in discharge of his duties.
The Minority complained that the Speaker has not been according them the needed respect and also denying them the opportunity to effectively debate and contribute to national issues, cataloguing a number of critical occasions the Speaker had denied them the opportunity to voice out their disagreements.
The Minority further said they are stopped from questioning Ministers of State who appear in the House to respond to issues confronting the country.
Voicing out the Minority’s “frustration” on Onua FM’s morning show Yen Nsem Pa, the Deputy Minority Chief Whip debunked the Majority Leader’s accusations and rather accused him of “misleading” the current Speaker of the House.
He explained that “Parliament is suffering today because the Majority Leader…a non-lawyer…is controlling the Speaker of the House, who is supposed to be a lawyer, and so he should stop pointing accusing fingers on the former Speaker”.
He further explained on Friday that the Minority reacted the way they did on Thursday because to them the actions of the Speaker was becoming unbearable.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Matthew Nyindam, has defended the action of the Speaker, describing him as the most “accommodating, liberal and lenient Speaker of Parliament” he has ever worked with.
He observed that the Minority are taking advantage of the Speaker’s leniency to engage in “propaganda” against the Speaker, adding that the Minority should have used the appropriate procedure, as outlined in the Standing Orders of the House, to draw the Speaker’s attention to their concerns.
The Kpandai legislator posited that even though the Majority Leader is not a trained lawyer, he has distinguished himself creditably in speaking to legal matters more than most of the trained lawyers in the House.
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