Parliament adjourns again - Govt business still hangs

The extraordinary meeting of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament started Thursday but was short-lived as the House adjourned indefinitely again within minutes of the sitting.

The adjournment, the second in three weeks, followed the absence of the members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Caucus in the chamber when the House reconvened.

The decision to stay away, members of the NPP caucus later explained, was because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus, who are supposed to be the Minority, had occupied the right side of the Speaker reserved for the Majority prior to the commencement of proceedings at 10.55 a.m.

The Majority Leader and Member of Parliament (MP) for Efutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said at a news conference that their decision to keep a distance from the House was to avoid a possible stand-off over who had the right to occupy the Majority side.

He said he expected the Speaker to settle the matter of which side should occupy the Majority side in the wake of the stay of execution of a ruling he made in Parliament on the seats of four members of the House.

The House was recalled to consider and approve a $250 million loan facility from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank for the Ghana Financial Stability Fund, tax waivers for various Ghanaian-owned companies operating under the One-District, One-Factory policy, and various bills, including the Free Senior High School Bill, 2024.

The House was also due to consider the budget on account to cater for the salaries of public sector workers for the first three months of 2025, as well as Constitutional Instruments which had already been laid and were to become laws after 21 days.

No business to transact

However, when the House began sitting, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, said even though the House had a quorum, there was no business before it to transact.

“In view of the failure of the Business Committee to sit as a result of the refusal of those who requested a recall to show up, we are compelled to once again adjourn the sitting of the House indefinitely.

“Knowing the challenges that we are facing, it is not advisable to be adjourning from day to day, and so I will proceed once more to adjourn the meeting indefinitely; and this extraordinary meeting is accordingly adjourned,” he declared.

Requests for recall

The Speaker told the House occupied only by the members of the NDC that the current meeting was in response to two recalls requested by the NPP members of the House.

He said the first recall was dated October 22, 2024 and second dated October 24, 2024, both pursuant to Article 112 (3) of the Constitution and Order 53 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.

The requests, the Speaker said, exceeded the constitutionally required signatories of 15 per cent of all Members of Parliament.

Mr Bagbin said the first request entreated the House to deliberate on and transact few urgent government businesses while the second request added many more items for the consideration of the House.

“From the initial request for us to consider five items, this second added 17 more items, and these requests came from the NPP Members of Parliament, but it was signed on their behalf by the Second Deputy Majority Whip, Alex Tetteh Djornobuah,” he said.

Absence

The Speaker, however, said under the dictates of the provisions of the Constitution, he had to issue the summons for the members to be in the House yesterday.

Complying duly with the constitutional provisions, Mr Bagbin said he got the administration of Parliament to get the summons published to the notice of all members.

“Unfortunately, the signatories who made the requests have not shown up, and, therefore, matters that they wanted us to handle, which I admitted for the consideration of the Business Committee, are not on the Order Paper.

“And, in fact, there is no Order Paper for today because the Business Committee could not meet due to the absence of the people who requested the recall, and you can see (that) one side of the House is completely empty,” he said.

In view of that, the Speaker said while the House had a quorum to sit, there was no business “before us to transact”.

“This is because the Business Committee, as we know, they prepare a report, and this report is adopted by the House as business agreed by the House to transact during the course of the week.

“In the absence of that, there is no other authority that can put business before you, which you have not adopted to transact,” he said.

“In view of the failure of the Business Committee to sit as a result of the refusal of those who requested a recall to show up, we are compelled to once again adjourn the sitting of the House indefinitely,” Mr Bagbin added.

Financial loss  

Speaking to the press soon after the adjournment, the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, said his side was disappointed in the NPP Caucus for failing to show up in the chamber after requesting a recall.

“What we are seeing is an abuse of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

“The NPP caucus have caused financial loss to the state. We call on the people of Ghana to see the behaviour of the NPP and punish them accordingly (at the December 7 polls),” he said.

Earlier adjournment

The government business in Parliament took a hit on October 22, 2024 when the Speaker adjourned Parliament indefinitely.

That followed the Speaker’s acknowledgement of the legal proceedings surrounding the composition of the House and the attendant public interest over the declaration of the seats of four MPs vacant.

With the Supreme Court order appearing to restrain his hands on the matter that had evoked drama in the nation’s political space in the preceding week, the Speaker adjourned proceedings less than 15 minutes after he had assumed his chair in the chamber.

“In view of the current circumstances, the fact that there is a question on the composition and constitution of Parliament and having regard to the public interest and the exigencies of the state of affairs in Parliament, I will proceed to, in accordance with Standing Orders 59(1), adjourn the House indefinitely, i.e. sine die,” he said in the brief address to the members.

Writer’s email: nana.agyeman@graphic.com.gh