The Member of Parliament for Walewale, Hon. Abdul Kabiru Tiah Mahama, slammed the leadership of Parliament over what he described as an abrupt adjournment of the House without any cogent reason.
Addressing the media on behalf of the Minority, the MP said the House was adjourned again “without any cogent and not any reason that anyone would attest to the fact that the purpose or the reasoning behind the adjournment is anything tenable.”
He recalled that pursuant to Order 58(4) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, the Speaker “rudely” recalled Members from recess while they were engaging with their constituents to consider the Deposit Protection Amendment Bill, nominees for Ministers of State, and nominees appointed to the Supreme Court of Ghana.
Hon. Mahama noted that the Minority reluctantly agreed to limit business to the recall items, leaving aside their own motions, yet three of the five recalled days were wasted without considering urgent matters. He stated, “You’ve seen today is the third day of the five days that we’ve been recalled to sit. Effectively we have wasted about 75 percent of the time that we’re supposed to use to consider the urgent matters, i.e. emergent matters that they say we should consider.”
He accused the government of failing to do the necessary groundwork and warned they plan to rush business through, adding, “You know, for the bill to be referred to the committee and the committee will look at it and make proposals to the House for consideration – that is not tenable. We cannot use two days for this and I’m seeing a situation where the government wants us to rush through in a single day everything. That has been very characteristic of this government – to use a single day to railroad everything that they want to go through in a single day.” He criticized the Majority for failing to muster numbers despite the Minority showing up, calling it an abuse of their mandate, and concluded that if the government lacks leadership, it should hand over power to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and the NPP.
Conversely, the First Deputy Majority Whip and MP for Ada, Hon. Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe, justified the recall, insisting committee meetings were actively ongoing for vetting.
Addressing the press on Wednesday, she dismissed the Minority’s complaints: “What are they looking for? We called the House to come and sit and work and we are working. So why are they complaining?” She explained that without the recall, reassigned ministers could not be approved to work on sector budgets ahead of the November 2026 Budget presentation, stating, “The main reason why we are here is if we don’t recall this House and vet the ministers, there will be nobody to approve them to go back to their sector ministries to work on their budgets.”
Hon. Cudjoe detailed that vetting is set for Thursday, followed by approval on Friday to fulfill their goals before adjourning to join the Speaker in Kumasi, adding, “Once the ministers will be vetted tomorrow and the report will be ready, we will approve them on Friday. That’s all. We have achieved our aim.” She noted the House is also addressing bills after extensive consultations so ministers can liaise with sector technocrats and the Finance Minister, explaining, “The ministers should be vetted, approved, go back to their ministries, work on their budget with their sector technocrats and then connect to the Finance Minister… so that the Finance Minister can capture it and come and read the budget by November.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
