Minority Chief Whip, Mohamed Muntaka Mubarak has described the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye as a threat to Ghana’s democracy “Mobutu Sese Seko or even Idi Amin will not behave the way he is doing”.
He noted that the Speaker has on several occasions refused to give the Minority the opportunity to make their views on some issues that come up for deliberation on the floor even as they have such a right.
Mr. Muntaka was speaking to a group of Journalists on Friday March 2, 2018 after the House approved the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 L.I. through a voice vote.
Among notable changes, the Subsidiary Legislation Committee recommended that the Ghana Legal Council should not be allowed to conduct interviews for entrants into the Ghana School of Law.
The Committee, however, said the entrance examinations for admission into the school would continue.
Muntaka had insisted that the House should have done division voting where every Member of Parliament (MP) is given the opportunity to vote the way they wanted, but claims that he was completely ignored by the Speaker.
The LI was drawn up and laid in Parliament on December 22, 2017, in response to the Supreme Court order directing a parliamentary approval for the admission process into the Ghana School of Law and to the Ghana Bar.
Some concerned law students had earlier put pressure on Parliament not to pass the L.I. claiming it was not in the best interest of LLB students and potential lawyers in the country.
The Asawase MP had also opposed the entrance exams as a prerequisite for entry into the Ghana School of Law as captured in the L.I.
The Minority Chief Whip stood on his feet for close to 20 minutes trying to catch the attention of the Speaker to make his point after the approval of the L.I, but was ignored.
He wanted to challenge the vote and ask for a procedure of division on the voting of the L.I. but he was not given the opportunity.
Minority members who were also not happy with the issue hooted at the Speaker and chanted loudly in Parliament.
“Civil society should be concerned about how the Speaker is conducting himself, it is so terrible. As for listening to us, you have to listen to us and make your ruling. If we want to challenge your ruling we know what to do, but to deliberately, continuously do what he is doing, I think he is a biggest threat to our democracy.”
Muntaka insisted that per Parliament’s Standing Orders “a member has the right to challenge the vote and ask that the Speaker should do either a head count or to go for division.”
“It is not for nothing that when we were voting from four years back to three years SHS system, Paapa Owusu Ankomah knew that they did not have the numbers in the House, but he wanted it to be on the record that when this thing came to the House, this is what happened. That is why sometimes we call for the votes, but the Speaker deliberately just refused to see any of us.”
“The way he is behaving, I think all of us need to be concerned and be very worried about because it is too much unbecoming of the Speaker. As somebody who has written so many books on theory, now he has the opportunity to turn the theory into practical, and he is completely messing up. I doubt whether Mobutu Sese Seko or even Iddi Amin will be behaving the way he is doing. It is too shameful that the Speaker continues to do this and disregard the rules of the house,” the Asawase MP added.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com
