By: Edzorna Francis Mensah
The Member of Parliament for Akatsi South Constituency in the Volta Region, Bernard Ahiafor has questioned the Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s led NPP MPs in Parliament, accusing them of deliberately causing financial loss to the state.
Bernard Ahiafor emphasized that, based on their petition, the Speaker of Parliament had rightfully recalled Parliament. However, he expressed surprise that those who had initially signed the petition were now absent or unaccounted for.
“The country doesn’t belong to them, if you know you’re not going to be available why would you use a constitutional provision abusively by way of allowing the Speaker to recall parliament and you were completely absent from parliament today”, he questioned.
According to him, every recall has a financial implication, because MPs have to abandon all they are doing (in this case campaigning) and burn fuel to Accra from far and near, – “financial implications in the sense that members are from various constituencies, we are in a crucial moment of campaigning in other to retain our seats so anytime the house is recall it means that wherever you are, you need to drive to parliament base on recall”.
“So if all Members, at least 136 of us, drove from various constituencies to Parliament and there is no business, the other time too, it was the same, definitely it has financial implications on us”.
The MPs were recalled at the instance of the NPP MPs to transact some important government business but, in the Speakers’ words preceding indefinite adjournment, “the petitioners are not in chamber”, meanwhile, NDC MPs were in the chamber in their numbers in response to the recall.
Speaking to gbcghanaonline.com, in Parliament after adjournment, the MP and Lawyer by profession, Mr. Ahiafor was shocked to see NPP MPs (the petitioners) to have abandoned the chamber without recourse to the petitions issued by them to trigger the recall.
He said, “as a matter of fact, I don’t know what is happening to the NPP members of Parliament whatever decision that we are going to take you must think through the decision before you take it”,
He noted that, “this is not the first time a decision is being taken by my friends from the other side recalling Parliament using the constitutional provision, they earlier did so and Speaker duly recalled Parliament and they came, they were ready to do business but NPP MPs were completely absent as a result they couldn’t have the number to take decision as a result the house was adjourned soon thereafter they again petitioned the speaker using the same constitutional provision to recall parliament Speaker again exercised its mandate because it is an obligation of him to recall when more than fifteen percent of the members of parliament sign a petition for recall”.
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