The Speaker of the Parliament, Alban SK Bagbin, has warned members of the DPR not to exchange physical strength for intellectual strength because “Parliament is for brains and not brawn.”
According to him, parliamentarians are now trading brainpower for physical prowess to solve problems in the chamber, pointing out, “There is a lot of noise and anger on the floor of the House.”
During a late-night session in December 2021, there was a fight in Parliament over the controversial levy on electronic transactions, with MPs pushing, forcing and throwing punches.
The chaos started after opposition lawmakers moved to prevent Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu from leaving his seat to vote. With the new Minority protest on Thursday evening, an almost chaotic atmosphere was created.
Members of the minority staged a loud protest over the Draft General Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations 2023 and the status of the Ghana Card.
Speaker Blast
In his speech in the DPR yesterday, the Speaker asked the leaders of the two caucuses to solve the problem of relying on brawn instead of brains.
“Leadership, you yourself must show the way and I am sure your members will follow your good example.
Home is Home for the brain, not for the bran. A brawn belongs to another arena and not on the floor of the August House,” he intimated.
He added, “Please continue to jaw-jaw in politeness. There are some exceptions, but it should not be a rule that every hot day is made from Parliament, but not from actions outside Parliament.
“I don’t think that’s right. Please, I invite both caucuses to hold a workshop soon. The budget is there to finance the workshop so that you can do the rules together, especially the etiquette at home,” Mr. Bagbin stressed.
He said that he got a lot of concerns expressed by Ghanaians, and that he would be failing in his job, if he did not convey the concerns of Ghanaians to the members of parliament.
“Please, this House is fragile and we all need to be careful about how we do business in the House,” he pleaded.
dead end
Parliament remains deadlocked as lawmakers from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its majority partner New Patriotic Party (NPP) are stuck on different positions on the constitutional instrument proposed by the Electoral Commission (EC) to carry out continuous registration of eligible voters.
On Thursday, the House was forced to adjourn during a meeting of the Committee of the Whole after a loud protest by members of the Minority who demanded the Chairman of the EC, Jean Mensa, to appear in person to give a briefing on the proposed General Elections (Registration of Voters. ) Regulation 2023.
The commission was represented by the Vice Chairman of Corporate Services, Dr. Bossman Asare and the Director of Elections, Dr. Serebour Quaicoe at the briefing meeting.
The First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, DAILY GUIDE gathered, tried his best to do business to get EC officials and their counterparts from the National Identification Authority (NIA) to brief the House, but failed because the opposition MPs persisted in their request, banging on desk.
Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Jean Adukwei Mensa and Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority, Prof. Kenneth Agyeman Attafuah has been summoned to Parliament.
mobile
The house was considering approving the report of the Committee of the Whole on the Status of Registration, Printing and Issuing of ECOWAS Identity Cards (Ghana Cards) and Related Challenges when the issue became muddled.
The Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has moved the motion on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee and seconded by the MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor.
A debate ensued and the question was tabled, with MPs agreeing to the motion, but the meeting adjourned at 5:40pm.
called
When the sitting finally resumed at 8:07 pm, Speaker Bagbin took the Chair and called the EC Chairman, NIA Executive Secretary to appear in the House in response to the concerns raised in the Committee of the Whole.
He should brief the parliamentarians as soon as possible on the proposed General Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2023, as well as the status of the Ghana Card registration.
Source: dailyguidenetwork.com
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