Consideration of Corporate Insolvency Bill; Minority stage walkout

Minority yesterday staged a walkout of Parliament during the consideration stage of the Corporate Insolvency Bill, 2019.

The walkout came at the beginning of sitting in the House when the Minority drew the attention of the Speaker to the fact that the House lacked quorum.

It, therefore, requested the Speaker to disallow the taking of decisions on the amendments of the Bill but could allow the consideration to continue.

Referrals

The Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, who raised the objection prior to the consideration of the
Bill, referred the Speaker to Article 102 of the Constitution which stated that “A quorum of Parliament, apart from the person presiding, shall be one-third of all members of Parliament.”

He also referred the Speaker to Order 48 of the Standing Orders of Parliament which stated that, ”The presence of at least one-third of Parliament, besides the person presiding shall be necessary to constitute a quorum of the House.

He, however, acknowledged that the Speaker reserved the authority to suspend decision taking while the House awaited other members of the House, who were then said to be in their respective offices, to show up in the chamber for consideration to proceed.

Condoning illegality

“We do not have the quorum to take the decision and you are still carrying on. You are abusing the privilege of this
House and you are making this House lawless, Mr Speaker. What you are doing is wrong,” he said.

Being ignored persistently by the Speaker, the microphone of Mr Muntaka was at a point silenced but he pressed the bottom to vent out his frustration, and he subsequently walked out of the chamber.
Colleague Minority MPs gradually started leaving the chamber one after the other.

Majority Leader

Reacting to the concerns raised, the Majority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, told the House that Article 104 (1) provided that when matters in Parliament came up for determination, there should be at least one-half of the members present in the chamber to vote.

“Mr Speaker, we are discussing the Bill. When we come to taking decisions, we will know what to do” he said.

He later told the House that he had information that Members of Parliament were in their offices and would leave for the chamber in response to the bell that was being rang.

“The bell will be rang and it is not for two minutes but 10 minutes,” he stated.

Speaker

Allowing the consideration to continue uninterrupted, Prof. Oquaye said while the bell was being rang for legislators to proceed to the House, business would continue as usual, saying that “that is the order of this house.”

“Please, it is my business to ensure that there are no unnecessary incursions as to the smoothness of the business of the House during the legitimate period,” he stated.