Author: Kwaku GhanaMPs

Frank Annoh Dompreh, the Majority chief whip has clarified that contrary to accusations from their colleagues in the Minority of the Majority abandoning their parliamentary duty, the Majority is always present for business.

He said he doesn’t understand why the Minority keeps raising issues of quorum and complaining that MPs on the Majority side of the House have deserted business on the floor for the Minority to do.

According to him there have been several occasions where MPs on the Majority side of the House showed up on the floor, but the Minority were not there to do business because they have served notice that anytime the Minority Leader is in court they would not come to the floor unless he is back from court.

He further noted that Ministers do come to the floor of the House to do business but most at times the Minority MPs do not show up when they even have questions on the order paper to ask.

“We should be fair to both sides of the House; MP for Bole and Banda should sometimes look at your side of the House and not only turn your attention to the Majority side of the House”, he stated.

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Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hon Alexander Afenyo-Markin has urged the sub-regional bloc to embrace radical reforms.

At the ongoing first Ordinary session of the 6^th Parliament meeting in Abuja on July 13, 2024, the Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament noted critical shortcomings in the current structure of the ECOWAS Parliament and proposed sweeping changes to its role and effectiveness in driving regional integration.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, established as a forum for dialogue, consultation, and consensus for representatives of the people of West Africa, has long been viewed primarily as an advisory body. However, Afenyo-Markin’s speech on Saturday challenged this perception, advocating for a more empowered and influential parliamentary role within the regional bloc.

“Parliament was not just created as an organ of ECOWAS to play a mere advisory role, a deliberative chamber without powers,” Afenyo-Markin asserted, setting the tone for his reform agenda.

The Effutu MP said a more robust parliament would accelerate the achievement of ECOWAS’s goals and serve as a vital link between the organization and the citizens it represents.

The  third Deputy Speaker, who presided over Saturday’s session of the 6th legislature of the regional bloc, identified two critical issues hampering ECOWAS’s effectiveness: a widespread lack of awareness about the organization’s activities and a concerning absence of synergy and collaboration among its various organs. These problems, he argued, have led to a disconnect between ECOWAS initiatives and the people they are meant to serve.

Drawing from his background in the private sector, Afenyo-Markin shared a personal revelation: “Until recently, I did not know a lot of the interventions that some development financial institutions established by ECOWAS have for the ordinary citizen of ECOWAS.”

“There are a lot of businesses in the agri-sector who are looking for chief funding, but how to tap the [ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) facility is a problem they don’t even know.”

The Deputy Speaker criticized the current organizational structure of ECOWAS, stating, “There is a commission sitting somewhere and parliament sitting somewhere. We are acting in silos.” He called for a more integrated approach, suggesting that the parliament could serve as “the best mouthpiece, the PR organ of the community body.”

Afenyo-Markin’s vision for reform extends to the parliament’s role in addressing political crises within the region. With several member states threatening to leave the bloc, he argued that “a strong parliament… would give meaning to the community’s aspiration” and could play a crucial role in maintaining regional stability.

Recounting a recent emergency meeting of ECOWAS heads of state, Afenyo-Markin noted that the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament was relegated to a back seat and denied the opportunity to address the gathering, unlike other commission heads and even a UN Special Envoy. This incident, he suggested, underscores the urgent need for “radical reforms… in terms of the protocols.”

As the meeting adjourned, Afenyo-Markin laid out the next steps for the parliament, announcing an upcoming interactive session with the ECOWAS Commission, focusing on the implementation of programs in economic affairs, agriculture, infrastructure, energy, and digitalization.

Ghanamps.com

The deputy minority whip and MP for Banda, Mr Ahmed Ibrahim has called on Parliament to be very careful not to rush through the approval of lithium agreement for the benefit of Ghanaians.

He explained that, there have been several agitations and accusations by civil society organizations and other citizens calling for transparency in the lithium agreement; therefore Parliament must open its eyes on the consideration and approval of the agreement.

Mr Ahmed made these remarks when the minister for lands and natural resources, Mr Samuel Abdulai Jinapoh appeared before the House to lay the agreement but was not successful due to lack of quorum.

He further argued that the paper to be laid never came before the Business Committee; and the agreement was appearing before the Order paper agendum but the nation should be carried along with this agreement.

Additionally, he argued that time should be given to leadership of the Mines and Energy Committee to meet the sector Minister.

This forced the Speaker to suspend the House for less than an hour but when the House came back no Business was done before the House adjourned.

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First Deputy Minority whip, Ahmed Ibrahim has sent a message through the leadership of the Majority to their flagbearer Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia and his running mate Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh to release MPs on the Majority side of the House to come to Parliament to do government business.

According to him the Minority MPs come to the floor of the House in their numbers every day but the Majority MPs are never present.

“What I want to say is that, government must bring government work and ensure that their side comes in their numbers. They have been given four years mandate; flag bearer is in the North and the running mate in the Western Region, you are campaigning the MPs are following you instead of coming to the chamber to do government business”.

Again, you have four months, one week to be in government, who should do the work? You are thinking of breaking the eight (8) and not solving the problems, he noted.

He further threatens that they would invoke order 104 which raises issues of quorum. “You are breaching the constitution and standing orders; you are calling for the renewal of mandate, we cannot come to the House and be working and you are in our constituency campaigning. We mean serious business and do not want to be victims of that, if your one hundred and thirty eight is not here we would also sign leave of absence for our members to go and be campaigning”, he cautioned on the floor of the House.

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The first deputy Minority whip, Ahmed Ibrahim has urged leadership of Parliament to ensure that the Electoral Commission (EC) and the National Identification Authority (NIA) are invited to brief the Committee of the whole on their activities in recent times.

According to him this would help the House to be on the same page with the two institutions as there have been complains of their activities in recent times by Ghanaians.

He further indicated to the House that, the National Peace Council has gone ahead to have a meeting with the EC and they have proposed that in 2028 Ghana card should be the sole mandatory document without listening to parliament.

Again, as representatives of their constituents they need to be listened to as solution is found to the problem of making the Ghana card the sole document to qualify one for getting a Ghanaian voters ID.

Again, the EC has complained about the struggles they have to go through before they get funds to carry out their constitutional required mandate and have been urging Parliament to intervene in this regard, hence his call when the Business Statement for this week was presented to the floor of the House.

Meanwhile, an appeal has been made for the Interior Minister to be brought to the House to brief it on steps to stem the serial killing ongoing in Bole and Wa Central.

Majority chief whip Frank Annoh Dompreh who presented the Business Statement could not agree more with first deputy Minority whip.

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Emmanuel Kofi Armah Buah, Deputy Minority Leader in Ghana’s parliament cannot fanthom how it is easy to travel from the West African sub-region to Europe than from among sub-regional countries.

Mr. Buah, a Ghanaian representative in the ECOWAS Parliament said, “It’s difficult to travel from Ghana to Sierra Leone; but how come it’s easy to visit Europe and America from the sub-region, and what are we doing to address this?”

As to what the Parliament is doing to help address the whole issue of Free Movement of ECOWAS citizens in the wake of high ticket prices and transport fairs, he noted in an interview that it is not an issue for the Parliament to intervene.

He said the focus should rather be to create a conducive economic atmosphere that would propel investments in the region; a situation that would generate healthy competition. “If we have enough airlines, prices would go down, prices of fuel would go down and that of tax in member states as well”.

Again, when we have a critical look at these things the market would transform itself we should focus on some of these things.

He asserts that things about ECOWAS should be prioritized if we want to achieve results and make positive impacts.
“We should not treat ECOWAS as an afterthought; ECOWAS should not be looked at when we are less busy, ECOWAS should be our focus, the objective of setting up ECOWAS is very relevant today and like the time it was founded we need to move faster than we are moving now”.

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Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, the Chairman of the ad hoc committee investigating a leaked tape regarding a plot to remove the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr. George Akuffo Dampare from office, has criticized the committee’s report, describing it as ‘anaemic’ and lacking substance for any parliamentary action.

According to the chairman he failed to sign the report that accused three senior police officers—COP Alex George Mensah, Supt. George Lysander Asare, and Supt. Emmanuel Eric Gyebi of misconduct; a major offence under police regulations, recommending they be sanctioned according to police disciplinary procedures.

However, during the Parliamentary debate, Mr Akyea urged the House to reject the report, citing that it lacks logical foundation.

He further said, “I want to submit with the greatest of respect that this report reduced parliament and the good committee of parliament to a conveyor belt that anything they drop on it should go. You do not just listen to people who come before a committee and that will bring you to a conclusion of the matter. You delve into the matters. A committee of parliament is not a conveyor belt. They’re supposed to delve into this matter. And on that showing, this report is so anaemic.”

In addition, “It lacks substance for plenary to find, with the greatest of respect. I urge this House to reject this report because there is no foundation of evidence for this report. And we shouldn’t make a resolution based on such an anaemic report.”

In response, Mr. James Agalga, the Vice Chairman of the ad hoc committee, countered Akyea’s remarks, accusing him of misrepresenting the facts.

“Mr. Speaker, quite a number of issues have been raised, which constitutes a gross misrepresentation of the facts and of the report…in the course of the committee’s deliberations, the chairman had the opportunity to raise the arguments that he has canvassed before this house this evening that we could not elevate conspiracy to the level of our criminal jurisprudence under section 23 of the criminal and other offences act and we all agreed as a result of that intervention.”

Finally, the majority leader, Mr Alexander Afenyo Markin in his contribution added that, the NPP government led by President Akufo-Addo would never remove the IGP from his position as some members of NDC Minority are trying to portray to Ghanaians that, President Akufo-Addo wants to base on the committee’s report to get Dr Dampare out of office.

He explained that, looking at the good job of the IGP and reforms he is introducing would sure meet some opposition because some people who benefit from the old ways of doing things would surely dislike the new reform.

Ghanamps.com