News:
August 1, 2025
We won’t accept bullying, Minority asserts as they staged another walkout
The Minority Caucus has chided the Majority of taking undue advantage of their large numbers to bully them on the floor by adopting procedures that are alien to the House.
The Minority described as a bizarre parliamentary procedure when the Deputy Minister for Finance, Ampen Darko used the opportunity given him after the conclusion of debate of the mid-year budget review to correct what he described as misleading assertions and figures churned out by some of the Members of Parliament from the Minority side during the debate.
“Today the procedures have been turned outside down; and we decided that we cannot be part of such a bizarre Parliamentary procedure”
The Minority initially objected to the Deputy Minister thanking the House and conveying the concerns of the House in the implementation of the budget instead of the sector Minister.
However, upon appeal, the Minority yielded but warned that he should not engage in any form of debate.
But while clarifying, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin raised concerns insisting the Deputy Minister was not following proper procedure. It was when his call to stop the deputy Minister from debating was shot down, that they left the chamber in protest.
They expressed concerns about how the Deputy Minister was actually responding to each member from their part who debated, and in so doing mentioned their names when in actual fact the people mentioned would not have the opportunity for rebuttal.
His behavior they stated undermines the competence and the intelligence of the Majority Leader who concluded the debate from their side as well as all others from the Majority side who took part in the debate.
Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.com