The North Dayi legislator, George Loh, has criticized the Minority in Parliament for consistently kicking against contracts approved by the House.
He was speaking about the lawsuit brought against the government by some five legislators over the expansion of the Takoradi Port in the Western Region.
Parliament in July, 2014 approved an agreement between the government of Ghana and a British company for the development of an oil and gas Freeport in the Western Region.
A clause in the agreement according to the five Members of Parliament (MPs) bars the Takoradi Port from further expansion until the Freeport is built and the company, Lonrho, recovers its cost.
The five are therefore praying the Sekondi High Court to remove a restriction government imposed on the further expansion of the Takoradi Port.
They are convinced that the clause offends section 5 of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority’s Act.
Loh, on Eyewitness News complained that “it’s beginning to seem consistent that the NPP or some Members of Parliament (MPs) don’t want to understand that we are in a democracy and that Parliament has its roles of approving contracts.”
He pointed out that this is the third time minority MPs are challenging contracts approved by the House.
This practice, according to him, is very “interesting and very worrying but of course, we are in a democracy, people have rights, people have freedom.”
The North Dayi lawmaker was convinced that no laws have been broken with agreement saying, “they [five MPs] are entitled to their opinion but I don’t think that anybody is oblivious to what the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority has been set up to do and what we want to do in this case.”
“As to whether this particular agreement is illegal or not, I think that I should leave that to the courts to determine,” he remarked.
He stated that no one will prevent the aggrieved MPs from seeking redress in the law courts “but let’s see what comes out of it.”
Loh urged Ghanaians to note that Parliament at all times acts in the interest of the nation.
The five MPs are Kwaku Kwarteng (Obuasi West MP), Kwabena Okyere Darko (Takoradi MP), Joseph Cudjoe (Effia MP), Mavis Hawa Koomson (Ewutu Senya MP) and Kofi Brako (Tema Central MP).
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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