Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has accused the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament of frustrating efforts to police public spending after NPP MPs staged a dramatic walkout over the government’s SIM card re-registration exercise.
The protest was sparked by a dispute over the financial implications of the nationwide programme, with the Minority demanding to know the total cost of the exercise and the justification for the expenditure.
Afenyo-Markin revealed they also sought clarity on how many individuals had previously used stolen identities to register SIM cards to measure if the policy had achieved its objective.
He argued that since the Communications Minister previously claimed the exercise would cost subscribers nothing, Ghanaians deserve full transparency on the public funds used to procure and implement it.
The Minority Leader condemned the First Deputy Speaker’s decision to throw out their supplementary question as a “new question,” calling the ruling a procedural breach that shields the Executive from scrutiny.
Citing Standing Order 89(1), Afenyo-Markin insisted their questions were procedurally valid and slammed the ruling as an abuse of parliamentary rules designed to suppress legitimate oversight.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana