News:
August 3, 2010
Hardly any seat was vacant in Parliament Monday as the House readied to debate and maybe pass the controversial housing deal with Korea firm STX.
Joy FM’s Parliamentary correspondent, Sammy Darko reports that “battle lines” have been drawn between the majority and minority sides. Compromises, he says, are hardly on the cards.
The House is expected to rise on Tuesday and details of all financial agreements including the controversial STX are expected to be laid today for a thorough debate tomorrow.
Already there is controversy over whether the details of the STX agreement should be laid today.
The minority argue that the Parliamentary Committee on Finance is yet to conclude discussions on the agreement and are questioning the basis for the majority to lay the ‘half-baked’ agreement.
As a prelude to the main discussions on STX, the parliamentarians were divided along party lines on the Education Amendment Bill.
The minority insists the number of years to be spent in the senior high school must not be less than four years, a position the majority has objected to. The majority wants a reversal to the previous three year tenure.
“The house is packed, almost every seat has been filled,” Sammy Darko described, a marked departure from the past in which the seats were in most cases empty.
He said ministers who are also Parliamentarians have been called in by the majority to make up the numbers should there be a need for a vote.
It is not clear if the STX agreement will be laid today.
Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana