Speaker of Parliament says the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu erred by counting himself as a Member of the House while presiding over parliamentary proceedings on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.
He said the act by the First Deputy Speaker raises procedural challenges.
He said the First Deputy Speaker had no legal backing to overrule the decision to reject the budget when he [Bagbin] presided.
Speaker Bagbin noted that just as he is allowed to overturn a ruling by Joe Osei Owusu, the latter had no authority to overturn the earlier ruling in rejecting the budget.
A headcount by the Clerk of Parliament on the day showed that there were 137 Members of Parliament [only the Majority members] who were present on the day of sitting.
The acting Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, said he was also present, making the total members in the House 138.
He subsequently agreed for a motion to be moved to overturn the rejection of the 2022 budget when only the Minority were present.
Joe Wise had argued that Alban Bagbin, erred in overseeing the rejection of the budget by the Minority since there was no clear majority in the House during the proceedings on Friday, November 26, 2021.
But Alban Bagbin disagreed stating, that the First Deputy erred by his action.
He also stated that the First Deputy Speaker in his reasoning in outlining the facts that he was not the Speaker was true.
However, in so far as he takes the role as Acting Speaker of Parliament, his decision to be counted as part of the numbers to form quorum raises ”procedural challenges”.
He said although the Standing Orders of Parliament are silent on these issues, many standing orders and rules of sister parliaments provide persuasive rules that when Deputy Speakers of Acting Speakers are in the chair, it is that Speaker’s responsibility.
”And the Speaker cannot be called upon to overrule it,” he added.
”So if that forms part of the responsibility of the Deputy Speaker, the substantive Speaker cannot overruler it. hen how come the Deputy Speaker can lead the House to rescind and change a decision that was taken in the presence of the Speaker?”
Despite making this submission, he admonished the House to move forward but be guided by the rules of the House.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
