The Member of Parliament for Asawase and Minority Chief Whip in Ghana’s Legislature Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak said majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) is grossly disrespecting the minority in the house.
The former majority Chief Whip has accused the Right Honorable Speaker Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye of being biased against the minority.
Explaining this on Onua Fm morning show ‘Yen Nsem Pa’, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak noted that the speaker turn to avoid minority members who are on their feet to contribute but quick to allow the majority to have their way.
“The majority is grossly disrespecting us, I think they want to run the Parliament alone and we will grant them that if that is what they want. When minority is on their feet, hardly before the speaker will allow them to speak. But the story is not same for the majority. We know they have the numbers but this is becoming too much”
It would be recalled that minority NDC in Parliament walked out of the chamber prior to the approval of the 2017 budget.
The Minority had argued that the District Assembly Common Fund should not be cut as proposed by the budget. They also said the budget failed to show how spare parts imported into the country are going to be regulated after removing taxes on it.
Asawase MP opined that all the minority wants is for the majority to allow them to also make their contributions no matter how few they are in the House. While admitting that it is true the majority have the numbers, all the minority wants is to be allowed to also participate in the nation building together.
“It will always take both majority and the minority to make laws. If they think they have the number, then they should run the house alone. There were some anomalies identified in the budget but we don’t know why the speaker and the majority, refused to allow us to point it out before it is passed. They should not disrespect us”
“It is the Standing Orders that we use in the House, but when the minority tried yesterday to draw the attention of the speaker that per the Standing Orders of the House, there must be specific number of members present, but we were not allowed, so we had to walk out. Is that how we want to run the house” the minority Chief Whip querried.
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