The Member of Parliament (MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri and Majority Chief Whip, Mr. Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has chastised the Minority Leader, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, for displaying acts of cowardice and hypocrisy by not owning up to a proposal by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs to allow lawmakers to use sirens in their vehicles.
According to him, the NDC MPs strongly proposed the inclusion of lawmakers in the category of those permitted to sirens during the pre-laying of the Road Traffic (Amendment) Regulations in Parliament.
The new Legislative Instrument (LI) had included provision granting certain public officials, including Ministers of State and the 275 Members of Parliament (MPs), the privilege to use sirens on the road and not be liable for exceeding speed limits.
The intention of the government for introducing that amendment in the Legislative Instrument was to include the Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament and the Head of the Judiciary Service who were not originally captured in those privileges as captured in the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (LI 2180).
However, the NDC MPs on the Subsidiary Legislation Committee led by the Chairman, Dr. Dominic Ayine, insisted that if MPs were not included in those privileges, they will not participate in the consideration and passage of the Amended LI.
Consequently, when the Minister for Transport, Mr. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah resisted those efforts made by the NDC MPs, they even delayed the laying of the LI for over two months until consensus was made to include their proposal.
The inclusion of the 275 lawmakers has however received vehement public condemnation after the laying of the Legislative Instrument by the government through the Ministry of Transport on Monday, July 14, 2024.
This has compelled the Minority NDC MPs to hurriedly release a statement signed by its leader, Dr. Ato Forson, calling for its immediate withdrawal.
However, in an interview with the Majority Chief Whip Mr. Annoh-Dompreh yesterday, he expressed shock that the minority through its Leader, is not owning up to the proposal they made in the LI at the Committee level.
“I was rudely shocked when I saw that statement. Even though from my sources, it appears to be a personal statement he had issued. Members of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee were engaged extensively by the Minister of Transport because he wanted to pick their views on the Amended Legislative Instrument.
“In the 2012 L.I. the Vice-President doesn’t have a provision, the Chief Justice and the Speaker of Parliament were all not included in those privileges. And for that matter, the intention of the Transport Minister was to include the Vice-President, Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice. Then there was a strong suggestion led by the Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, Hon. Dominic Ayine who insisted that they Members of Parliament be captured in the L.I. But the Transport Minister resisted it. But the Minority NDC MPs made it a condition else they won’t participate,” the Majority Chief Whip reiterated.
He said it was after the acceptance to include MPs that the Amended L.I. that the Minority gave the green light for it to be laid.
LI withdrawn
Nevertheless, Mr. Annoh-Dompreh noted that the Ministry of Transport has withdrawn the Amended Legislative Instrument for further consultations.
Mr. Annoh-Dompreh further noted that the behaviour and the attitude of the Minority Leader, Dr. Ato Forson, for feigning piety after the huge the public uproar is what baffles him, creating the impression that the NDC MPs had no hand in it.
