Alban Bagbin pushes for continuous education of MPs on parliamentary tacts
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has underscored the need for members of the house to be educated on how motions are couched.
This comes after an objection raised by the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin against a motion of vote of censure on the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
“We need to sit together, dialogue and exchange views on the constitution and standing orders for the practice and procedures of the house”, he said.
Alban Bagbin, further pushed the improvement of knowledge of members on the procedures of the house.
“Beyond that, we have the rulings of speakers and literature on the laws and customs of Parliament. The fact that the concept of democracy has remained the say of separation of powers and checks and balances, we need to have continuous education of these matters for us to play our role well.”
On Thursday, Alexander Afenyo-Markin raised an objection to a motion of a vote of censure filed against the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.
The Minority in Parliament had filed the vote of censure against the Finance Minister citing seven reasons which include conflict of interest and fiscal recklessness leading to the sharp depreciation of the Ghana Cedi.
But speaking on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Afenyo-Markin argued that the reasons given by the Minority were unjustified, adding that the Minister of Finance has not been heard on the allegations.
“If you go through our order paper in this House, clearly committees bring reports, we submit applications and motions are advertised on their own. So a motion for a censure against the Finance Minister…Mr. Speaker, we should not forget that we are in a political space. The Minister has been condemned long before he is heard. The respondent in this application has been condemned with allegations, not facts. We all want a fair hearing.”
-Nii Ayikwei Okine
