Author: Kwaku GhanaMPs

Leader of Government Business, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has expressed worry over the conduct of the Speaker Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin in his ruling that declared four seats vacant.

The Speaker, he said threatened him, (Afenyo-Markin) and became so apprehensive to the extent of calling the marshal on him; a development he described as most unfair”.

According to him after the Speaker had said whatever he wanted to say, “he was pushing me, under which rules was I coming under, basically stopping me from speaking; and did not want me to speak. I yielded to him that is his platform.

He said if Parliament is all about Speakers, he should take it. However, he has forgotten that it took fifty calumets from us to make him a Speaker.

“Often, he forgets and does the biding of NDC; if all the NDC members voted for him, he will not be Speaker, but we leave that to posterity and his own good judgement”, he lamented in an interview.

As to whether the New Patriotic Party (NPP) constitution is not specific that when you go independent, you are no longer a member of the party, he said the specific provision under Article three details the rights of a member; despite that, there is a clause that confesses the automaticity right.

Same party constitution gives due process, right of fair hearing on the member who is affected. A member shall have the right to participate in all activities of the party subject to rules and regulations.

He further pointed out that, that member should be heard whenever his or her activities and conducts are in question and under consideration. “If any member has decided to file as an independent candidate in the next election and the party is not happy, the constitution of the party enjoins the party to hear the person to explain his activities.

Again, we in the NPP, we have not written to Mr. Speaker. They said they were following precedence. Even if that is the precedence they want to follow, that precedence was triggered by a certain process.

“Has the NDC written to Mr. Speaker, has the General Secretary done that to the Speaker, that indeed our member Ackah has been sacked?”.

Has NPP written. I as the Majority Leader and Leader of the caucus have I written to Mr. Speaker to say that this is the communication from the party therefore please proceed?”

“So, you place something on nothing and that is why it is falling and crushing. There is nothing that support their action, he affirmed.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has pointed out that former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu as a lawyer has done the right thing by petitioning Mr. Speaker on the issue of three Members of Parliament contesting 2024 parliamentary elections as independent candidates as well as the only independent MP contesting on the ticket of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Even before the House will resume, the Tamale South Lawmaker Haruna Iddrisu indicated that the Minority will become Majority in case the three seats in the Majority side should be declared vacant.

The Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin has noted that the statement of public concern raised by the Minority leader Dr. Ato Forson is not the right way to go and rather should learn from the lawyer former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu.

Meanwhile, the Majority Leader Afenyo-Markin has gone to the Supreme court against the intention of the Tamale South MP seeking for four seats to be declared vacant.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Despite the short span of the fifth meeting of the eighth parliament, the Majority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has indicated that there are urgent Government Businesses that need the attention of the House.

Speaking at the opening of the House on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, the Majority Leader, said the following six critical Bills need the attention of the House as well as others.

They are;

• Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 2024

• Social Protection Bill, 2023

• Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2024

• Budget Bill, 2023

• Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2023

• Intestate Succession Bill, 2022

Welcoming his colleagues, he noted that, the country is gearing up for another General Elections come December 7th, 2024 and he is not oblivious of the huge responsibilities that this has placed on the Members seeking another mandate from our people.

These and other similar important Bills before the House need to be considered before the House proceeds on recess. There are a number of Questions that are before the House that calls for the Sector Ministers to avail themselves to respond, he added.

“Mr Speaker, one issue that caught the attention of the nation during the recess period was the issue of illegal artisanal mining popularly known as “galamsey” in our local parlance. Although artisanal mining has been part of our local economy for decades, the devastation to our water bodies, forest and ecological reserves calls for the need to re-visit the issue of artisanal mining in recent times.

The President’s decision to deploy the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) through ‘Operation Halt’ in the early years of his presidency aimed to combat the threat of illegal mining, which was wreaking deliberate havoc on the nation’s water bodies and forest reserves.

While the operation achieved some successes, various challenges arose that undermined the efforts to fully eradicate the menace. We all in this Chamber must acknowledge the President for taking a bold decision to fight the menace of galamsey”.

Mr Speaker, the President in a statement released by the Presidency has reinforced the operational and tactical capacity of the ‘Operation Halt’ by directing the Minister for Defence to deploy additional military personnel to intensify the ongoing ‘Operation Halt’ across the country, he informed the House.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Amenfi Central Yaw Peter Kwakye-Ackah has confirmed to Ghanamps.com that he is indeed contesting as an independent candidate in the December 7, 2024 parliamentary election.

He said what has been reported in the media and on social media about his independent candidature is true, but refused to give any further details on his decision.

Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson made a statement of public concern on the floor of the House on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, when the House resumed from recess in relation to the former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu’s petition to the Speaker in an attempt to get the Speaker to declare some four seats vacant.

The four MPs, three from the Majority side and one from the Minority have filed to contest as independent candidates in the coming 2024 elections; and the former Minority leader thought it was time their seats are declared vacant having come to the eighth parliament on the ticket of political parties.

Former Majority Leader Cletus Avoka on his part contributing to the statement noted that, if you are elected by the people to represent them in Parliament and you have to leave to join another party or go independent in election, it is seen as a principle of not contacting the sovereign will of the people and you have betrayed them because they had agreement to come and support a political party.

“So, if three or four months for their turner to come to an end, you betray that course, you no longer belong to that party, the day you file nominations you stop belonging to that party”, he lamented.

He said Article 97 comes to play, to prevent a practice we have in our Republic and other jurisdiction, where people were elected on a party ticket, they came to parliament and because of their personal interest and because of hope of advantage, inducement and corruption, they jump to another party without reference to the people who brought them to the august Parliament.

And the commonsense aspect of it is this, before you go to fill your nomination with the electoral commission, you should have a letter from the political parties. The question is, “those going independent which party did they get letters to go and file?”

So can a party file two candidates? No, so you have filed as an independent candidate, you do not belong to the party that brought you to parliament. “Commonsense is those who left our parties and are going independent if we are meeting as a caucus to strategically win seats, will we invited those going independent, will we invite them to our meetings? No”, he added.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson has said the nation is under the plague of unprecedented spate of illicit, illegal, uncontrolled and unregulated mining activities.

According to him the nation is on the precipice of a self-inflicted environmental genocide.

He made these remarks at the fifth meeting of the fourth session of the fourth Republic on of the eighth Parliament on Tuesday, October 15, 2024, when the House resumed from recess as part of his opening remarks.

“Our beautiful country, once called the Gold Coast to underscore the rich mineral deposits God has bestowed on us is fast becoming a pale shadow of itself. Our lands with all their rich flora and fauna are being destroyed by the day”, he lamented.

And further pointed out that, our once pristine rivers and water bodies are now looking as brown as coffee, having been poisoned to satisfy the insatiable greed of an unscrupulous few.

Again, many farmlands including cocoa farms have been destroyed and in their place are unattended pits and gullies from uncontrolled mining activities.

According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), it may take up to 300 years to restore the quality of soil damaged by illegal mining.

“Rt. Hon. Speaker, it appears we are at war against ourselves, and the destructive effects are frightening and far-reaching. The reckless and criminal discharges of heavy metals such as mercury, lead and cyanide into our waterbodies and lands have already begun to have dire consequences on our health”.

He opined that medical experts have delivered a scary verdict on babies being born with various deformities such as the absence of limbs, eyes and other vital body parts we are at crises point. At the heart of this crisis are leadership failure, official complicity and lack of political will by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government.

This House must rise to the occasion and bring the necessary pressure to bear on government to act, he affirmed.

The Minority leader also urged government to guard against the temptation to spend what it does not have as the country gears up for another election cycle, adding that such reckless fiscal indiscipline is what has landed our country in a debt hole and brought untold hardship on Ghanaians.

“I am reliably informed that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government intends to dole out about GHS3, 000 per person and other assorted election-driven handouts to some 800,000 so-called farmers in the name of drought relief”.

It is obvious that the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government has not learned any useful lessons from the misuse of Covid-19 funds and borrowed funds on reckless consumption-driven expenditure.

This NPP government must be reminded that Ghana’s economy which they have badly mismanaged is still not out of the woods. Hence, strict adherence to fiscal responsibility rules must be upheld even in an election year, he emphasised.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com