The Majority in Parliament has accused the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin of holding the House to ransom.
Addressing a press conference today, Tuesday, December 21, 2021, said the Speaker has refused to take responsibility and preside over the House.
He said the House adjourned to Tuesday morning and expected the Speaker to preside but later sent a communication that he could not be present at the announced time but would be available t 10 am.
According to him, the Speaker later sent another communication that he would be available at 11 am.
He described the situation as unfortunate adding, the Speaker was holding the House to a ransom.
Meanwhile, Parliament has suspended sitting indefinitely.
The First Deputy Speaker announced this shortly after taking his seat.
The House had suspended sitting on Monday, December 20, 2021, following a commottion in the House.
The commotion started when the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who was then presiding over proceedings of the House in the absence of the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban S.K. Bagbin, attempted to also cast his ballot for passage of the Bill under a Certificate of Urgency.
The decision of the First Deputy Speaker to take leave of the Speaker’s chair for the Second Deputy Speaker to take charge to enable him to participate in voting turned chaotic when the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs attempted to prevent him from vacating his chair to participate in the headcount voting process.
This resulted in a clash between the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and opposition NDC sides in Parliament with some MPs throwing their fists while others fell to the ground for proceeding to be adjourned due to the misconduct.
The 25-Member Finance Committee of Parliament had earlier approved the controversial E-Levy Bill for consideration by the House which was done despite the resistance of the Minority NDC members because the Chairman of the Committee voted in favour to break the tie.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
