Shelve your entrenched positions and build consensus – ACEPA boss advises Parliament
The entrenched positions taken by the Majority and Minority sides of the legislative house has become a source of worry for the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) and it has cautioned that this action will have a toll on Ghana’s legislative business as well as Ghana’s democratic process.
ACEPA’s concerns is stemming from what ensued in Parliament yesterday where under the leadership of the 1st Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu the Majority left alone in the chamber as the Minority staged a walkout, approved the 2022 budget which was initially rejected by the Minority caucus also alone in the chamber at that point in time.
The Majority after the approval defended their action by saying the initial rejection by 137 legislators in the Minority was unconstitutional positing that Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin erred in his ruling.
Predictably, the Minority caucus is not pleased with the Majority’s approval of the budget and have also called their [Majority] actions unconstitutional during a Press briefing to explain their position on the matter.
“The Constitution says a Deputy Speaker shall not retain his original vote while presiding, so constitutionally they were also 137, so Ghanaians should expect that what they have done is also a nullity to quote them. The precedent they are setting will haunt them in the future.”
With this situation in hand Executive Director for ACEPA, Dr. Rasheed Dramani has reiterated his calls for a dialogue between both sides as their entrenched positions would hurt the country more.
“Some would say winners and losers. So there were winners on Friday and losers on Monday, and also losers on Friday and winners on Monday. This is a very interesting development, and we wait to see what happens in the coming days. But at the end of it all, the two sides cannot run away from trying to build bridges which is very important, otherwise, the acrimony that we see is not going to augur well for the rest of the time that we have with this Parliament.”
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
