Sodom and Gomorrah brouhaha: Speaker drags Local Govt Minister to House
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has asked the Business Committee of Parliament to programme the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to appear before the House sometime next week to brief members on the events leading to the demolition of the Old Fadama slum in Accra.
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His summons followed a statement by the Chairman of the Committee on Defence and Interior, Mr Fritz Federic Baffour, who raised serious concerns over events during the exercise and street demonstrations which eventually led to an attempt by a mob to invade Parliament House.
Mr Baffour, who is the member for Ablekuma South, said as representatives of the people, parliamentarians needed to be well-informed about events during and after the demolition and the action of the mob before they could comment on and take a decision on the issue.
Demolition
The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) last Saturday embarked on a demolition of structures in the area, popularly called Sodom and Gomorah and which has served as the abode of some squatters for many years.
Making a contribution to the issue, the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr Dominic Bingab Aduna Nitiwul, called on the AMA to give a road map on the exercise and stop the demolition, which had displaced thousands of residents of the slum and exposed them to the vagaries of the weather.
Comments
Mr Nitiwul expressed regret over the fact that the AMA could not give the residents some time to quit before forcing them out with the demolition and added that the way the operation was being handled could create a security risk for the country.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin, said as representatives of the people, it was proper that members should be heard, for which reason they needed briefing by the minister to enable the House to arrive at a meaningful decision on the exercise.
The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, was, however, of the opinion that even if the people were occupying the place illegally, they needed to be given ample time and possibly relocated.
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He asked the Speaker to extend the invitation to the AMA and the ministries of Works and Housing and Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.
Bill
Meanwhile, the House took the Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment) Bill, 2015 through a second reading.
The bill seeks to amend Act 2011 to provide for the allocation of funds to the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund for the purposes of infrastructure development and to provide for the composition of an Investment Advisory Committee.