The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has expressed unhappiness about what he describes as attempts by the leadership of the House to hide activities in Parliament from him.
He revealed that decisions are taken without prior communication to him as required by Parliament.
Mr. Mensah Bonsu cited Tuesday’s appearance of the Finance Minister in Parliament as an example saying, leadership did not give him prior-notice.
“I was not asking to be briefed about the content but you could tell me the nature of the discourse as to what was it that he was going to tell us; just give me a jist of it,” he said.
He recalled that since he became a Legislator during the tenure of Justice Annan as the Speaker and his successors, things had been done according to Parliamentary rules but “unfortunately, I must be very sincere that increasingly, it’s like if we have to have a meeting with the Speaker, some meeting has already taken place with the other side and then the rest brought into it.”
Mr. Mensah Bonsu also mentioned that if a pre-sitting meeting is to take place, “it’s like some meeting has already been held in the morning. That is not healthy…it cannot be and that is why I am in the dark.”
He was however quick to clarify that it is early days yet to judge the performance of the Speaker, Edward Doe Adjaho “so I wouldn’t want to say that I’m indicting him…to be honest, he is not being the best.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Mensah Bonsu has also told Citi News, the Nadowli Kaleo MP, Alban Bagbin has been offering explanations to the House on the corruption allegations he made against members last month.
Mr. Bagbin was quoted as saying Members of Parliament (MPs) take bribes to champion the course of Civil Society Organizations and individuals.
The MPs angered by the accusations formed a special committee to charge Mr. Bagbin to produce evidence to substantiate his claims.
The Minority leader said the leadership of the House has been engaging Mr. Bagbin on the matter and will continue to do so in order to ascertain the veracity of his claims.
He was hopeful that the leadership will finish investigations by the time the House re-convenes on May 27th and “we will conclude this matter. I am not too sure that it will require more than one or two more business days to bring the matter to a closure.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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