Majority Tie Down Bagbin …Forces Him To Recall Parliament On May 17

The Majority Caucus in Parliament has forced a recall on Friday May 17, after the Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, adjourned the House sine die on Wednesday March 20 for the Easter break.

The May 17 recall was announced by the Speaker through a statement he himself issued and signed on May 10.

Mr. Speaker’s statement, which announced the summons on all Members of Parliament to resume on Friday May 17 by 10 in the morning, said the recall was in “pursuant to Article 112(3) of the Constitution of the Republic and Order 53(1) & (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament”.

Background

Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, told journalists on Friday May 3 that there are critical matters of urgent importance that should be addressed by Parliament but communication with Speaker Bagbin for a recall of the House has been ignored therefore his Caucus, as a last resort, had to  trigger Article 112(3) in defence of Ghana’s democratic governance.

Article 112(3) states that “…fifteen per cent of members of Parliament may request a meeting of Parliament; and the Speaker shall, within seven days after the receipt of the request, summon Parliament.”

Parliament currently has 275 members and the fifteen per cent required to invoke Article 112(3) would be 42 members. So far, over a hundred of the Members have signed the document to invoke Article 112(3) to recall Parliament within the next two weeks.

Afenyo-Markin disclosed further: “As far back as the 8th of April, the Majority sent a memo to Mr. Speaker. In that memo, my humble prayer to Mr. Speaker was for him to exercise discretion under the powers given him in Orders 57 and 58. Unfortunately, my prayer was not successful; so we took the first major step. We are left with no option than to invoke our rights under Article 112(3) of the Constitution.”

He continued:  “We are also fortified to precede with our prayer by Order 53 of the new Standing Orders also repeats the provisions of Article 112(3). We do so in good faith and in defense of our democracy. We understand that our colleagues from the Minority may have their own views. We cannot take those views away from them.”

The Majority Leader said among the several issues which ought to be addressed by Parliament with a sense of urgency are the adoption of the thirty-fourth report of the Appointments Committee on President Akufo-Addo’s nomination for Appointment as Ministers, Regional Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

He also mentioned the motion on additional financing agreement between Government of Ghana and the DIA for an amount of US$150 million to finance the ongoing Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project.

The third issue mentioned by the Majority Leader was the   request for tax exemption for selected beneficiaries under the 1D1F programme.