News:
January 20, 2011
Majority and Minority in Parliament on Wednesday disagreed on whether Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo was qualified to lay a paper on behalf of the newly assigned Minister for Education.
Mr Tettey-Enyo was affected by recent reshuffle, dropping out as the Education Minister without reassignment.
Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader said in the absence of the newly appointed Minister of Education, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, Mr Tettey-Enyo was to lay the Tertiary Institutions (Establishment and Accreditation) Regulations 2010 (L.I. 1984) paper.
The Minority sharply rejected him performing that role on the grounds that he was no more a Minister but conceded that any minister apart from him could perform that duty.
Mr Avoka argued that until January 21, 2011 he was still a Minister of Education.
He explained that a letter from the President intimated that from the time of the reshuffle to January 21, affected Ministers remained Ministers.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, NPP Member for Sekondi, said parliament had oversight responsibility over the Executive and added that in the event of a reshuffle Parliament must be officially informed.
Quoting Article 81 of the 1992 Constitution, Papa Owusu-Ankomah said the position of a Minister of State or Deputy Minister shall become vacant if his/her appointment was revoked by the President.
He said Mr Tetteh-Enyo had not been reassigned for him to be regarded as a Minister.
Mr Ambrose Dery, MP for Nandom, said the former Minister could have been considered if he had been moved from one Ministry to another.
“The former Minister cannot stand for another Minister, he is not a Minister”, Mr Derry noted.
Mr Alfred Agbesi, National Democratic Congress member for Ashaiman, said Articles 78 and 81 presented two situations.
He said Article 78 was on the appointment of ministers while 81 was on revocation of Ministers from their position, and called on the House to allow Mr Tettey-Enyo to lay the paper.
The Minority then requested that if a letter was produced to that effect and the Majority was ready to lay it, then Mr Tettey-Enyo would be allowed to lay the paper.
Things twisted the more when Mr Avoka produced the letter to that effect and even began reading it but the Minority side refused to budge on their resolve.
He then called for the paper to be dropped for it to be laid another time to enable him to consult with the Leadership.
Mr Avoka explained that he wanted the Speaker to guide the house on the matter for them to be clear for the purpose of precedence.
Mrs Bamford-Addo, Speaker of Parliament, appealed to both sides to compromise and allow the paper to be laid while an effort was made to resolve the impasse.
Ms Akua Sena Dansua, former Minister for Youth and Sport and newly appointed Minister for Tourism, laid the paper finally as directed by the Speaker.
Source: GNA