You’re the cause of the confusion ongoing in parliament now – Bagbin fires Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s recent judgment has been blamed by Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin as the cause of the disagreement in parliament over the formation of a quorum for voting.
He indicated that the Supreme Court judgement is different from what they see as a quorum in parliament.
“Most of these things are happening because of the recent judgement of the Supreme Court, and that is the good reason why I asked for a review [of the judgement],” he said.
Bagbin was also of the view that the Apex court ought to have sought their view on the matter before going ahead to make its judgment on the voting rights of Deputy Speakers and the issue of quorum in Parliament.
“Even before my arrival, there were a lot of issues about quorum and the house had to be adjourned a number of times because of the interpretation of our understanding of quorum as stated in the judgement of the Supreme Court… As people who were going to be affected by that ruling, Parliament should have been given notice for us to have also stated our understanding of the law,” he added.
The speaker’s comment was on the back of issues raised by the Minority that the Clerk intentionally marked some of its members as absent, although they were present in the Chamber on the day the E-levy bill was passed.
Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak Minority Chief Whip also blamed the Clerk for not capturing the Minority’s walkout in the records of the day, accusing the Clerk of being politically motivated.
Meanwhile, Mr Frank Annor-Dompreh, Majority Chief Whip, however, took exception to the accusations levelled against the Clerk of Parliament, arguing the development could’ve been an error.
But the Speaker in expressing his view on the situation said in his understanding, being present in Parliament was not restricted to being in the Chamber as parliamentary work includes committee meetings and other duties hence so long as an MP is within the precincts of Parliament and others can testify of his presence, he must be marked present.
“The work of an MP in Parliament is not restricted to the floor of the chamber. Much of the work of the MP is done at the committee level. You can be on the floor, at a committee meeting, in the washroom, but you are still in Parliament and this must be known. Being in Parliament means being in the precincts of Parliament.”
“The constitution did not say being present alone, but added ‘and voting.’ You can be present and decide not to vote, or be disqualified by law, not to vote. These are matters that are known to Parliament and unknown to the courts,” he stressed.
