News:
March 26, 2018
It has been revealed that the Minority on the committee of Defense and Interior had majority of its members on the Parliamentary committee that recommended the Ghana-US military agreement that came for consideration at the committee level.
Minister of Defense, Dominic Nitiwul made this revelations known on Joy Fm’s weekend current affairs programme news file that the Minority had 14 MPs on the committee when the Majority had 10 members present at the committee.
He stated that the 24-member committee scrutinized the deal thoroughly before recommending it to the House.
“We finished the whole deliberation, we sat from about 9:30 am to almost 9: 00 pm and analyzed it clause by clause. With 14 NDC members and 10 NPP members then the committee took the decision to recommend it to parliament for adaption,” he said.
Ranking member on Defense and Interior, James Agalga, that although the Minority members were more in numbers on the committee, the decision to recommend the agreement to the plenary was that of the NPP members.
“We reached the recommendation because there was a deadlock and we as members belonging to minority after raising reservations said if you the Minority wanted a recommendation, it will stand in the name of the majority NPP,” he said.
He noted also that there was no voting at the committee level.
“He Nitiwul gives the impression that we sat on the committee and the majority members of the NDC voted and recommended and that is not true,” he said.
“If we had voted the voting pattern would have been captured,” he added.
He was emphatic that he led his NDC members to raise objections.
A private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah in his opinion said since the NDC had Majority on the Committee, they could have easily quashed the deal at the committee level.
“You failed by not demanding the vote,” he told the ranking member on Defense and Interior.
“If there is no unanimity then you have an opportunity because the majority is now minority so you demand a voice vote and on account of your vote…you could have thrown this agreement out,” he said.
Parliament has since ratified the agreement although the minority members staged a walkout amid fierce arguments.
By: Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/ghanamps.com