Parliament has summoned the Minister of Power to appear before it to explain the status of government’s plans to export two power barges from Turkey to help ease the power crisis facing the country.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LCmViprCdS5bmtKe14H47HqMXtvHXwi7″]The Minister was summoned after Effutu Member of Parliament, Alex Afenyo-Markin asked the presiding Speaker, Ebo Barton-Odro to cause the minister to be brought to the House to submit details of governments agreement with the Turkey firm on the two power barges in line with the provisions of Article 181 of the 1992 Constitution.
The application met strong resistance from Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi who claimed breach of the rules of the House and requested that the Effutu MP be ruled out of order.
Mr Afenyo-Markin contended that the $100 million government guarantee for funding of the agreement needed Parliamentary scrutiny and approval in accordance with Article 181 (5) and (6) of the Constitution.
He insisted that the whole agreement should be considered illegitimate because government gave the guarantee without Parliament’s approval.
“The Power crisis is a national issue. All of us would want Ghanaians to have light. People are losing their jobs” he said arguing that “…the issue is to get your direction [Mr Speaker] on bringing this matter to this House for consideration.”
For his part, Alfred Agbesi indicated that “if it’s a matter of that he wants the constitutionality or otherwise of the issue, the Supreme Court is there.”
Mr Agbesi urged Afenyo-Markin to use the right procedures in requesting the presence of the Minister saying “he raised the matter that he wants the minister to be brought here… He has many ways to bring the matter before the House.”
The First Deputy Speaker, Ebo Barton-Odro, who presided over proceedings on Friday, directed that the Minister be invited to brief the House on the contents of the agreement and make copies available to the House for perusal.
He directed the Business Committee of the House to fix a date and invited the Minister to brief the House on the agreement.
Meanwhile government has directed the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to provide $50 million funding to enable government to import the power barges into the country.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana