The Majority Caucus in Parliament has accused the Speaker of Parliament of being biased for failing to walk the General-Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, out of Parliament.
According to the Caucus, this conduct is “unacceptable”.
This follows the Speaker of Parliament’s directive to all non-MPs to excuse MPs vote on a prayer by the Finance Minister to be allowed to have more discussions with stakeholders on the budget.
After the directive, non-MPs including the Finance Minister were ushered out, but the presence of Mr. Asiedu Nketia in the public gallery was not well received by the Majority MPs.
Speaking on the GTV Breakfast Show, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, said the Speaker of Parliament exposed his bias for not subjecting Mr. Asiedu Nketia to the directive.
“How does the presence of the Minister who has submitted a prayer to you affect the voting because the Minister does not participate in the voting? Why does it affect?”
“If you extend your own understanding of the lobby to include the Chamber itself, the gallery is part of the chamber so then walk the General Secretary out. You don’t pick and choose. You must be equitable in your application of the law,” he said on Monday, November 29.
“The Chamber is not part of it. You have decided to extend it to it and you are calling for the Minister to be removed from the plenary, what of your own General Secretary? If you do that, you expose your bias and I thought that was unfortunate.”
The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs also explained that the walkout staged by the majority was to stimulate and correct the Speaker.
“When we walked out, it was to let the speaker appreciate that he was walking on the path of unrighteousness so that he would come back to realize that what he did was wrong. So we walked out to stimulate him.”
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu added that the Majority Caucus expected the Speaker to suspend sitting and call all the Leaders of the House.
Watch the interview below;
2022 Budget: Speaker of Parliament exposed his bias- Majority Leader. #GTVBreakfast pic.twitter.com/uxV4zt5YUq
— Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (@thegbcghana) November 29, 2021
