The Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament has fingered the Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus for what it termed an obstructionist agenda to disrupt the smooth operation of the government in Parliament.
According to the governing party, the NDC Caucus must be condemned in the strongest of terms to change its posture, and stop acting as if nothing about the government matters to the party and its followers.
The Majority Caucus, it said, will continue to engage the Minority, and the Speaker of the House as the head of the assembly, on matters that it believes could be done better than they are witnessing now.
Deputy Majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who raised the matter in Parliament noted that the inconsistencies of the NDC are obvious attempts to derail the smooth running of the government, .
His side, he said, will not give up as it will continue to engage the minority.
He however warned that in doing so they will not allow any group to unduly ambush the majority caucus.
“So much as we are ready to build consensus, we see signs of ambushing. We see signs that the NDC minority is up to something to frustrate business of the House,” he said.
Mr. Afenyo-Markin indicated that even though the Majority does not have reason to doubt the commitment of the Speaker to be impartial, the conduct of the Minority is giving compelling impression they hold a sinister view.
He added, “They have certain views that they will have their way and that they will find some means of compromising the Speaker.
“We are not saying Mr Speaker has compromised or is about to compromise his impartial principle in the conduct of business in the house but the minority give us cause for concern.”
Mr Afenyo-Markin averred that although Parliament survives on concessions and on give and take, it shouldn’t be a situation where the Speaker entertains an obstructionist agenda.
He argued that the NDC’s demand for a 50-50 percentage of the composition of committees is unheard off in any democratic practice when there is an identifiable Majority and Minority Caucuses.
According to him, it is a known fact in Ghana’s Parliamentary jurisprudence that where the Speaker or his Deputy is required to chair a Committee, their membership of that Committee does not count.
He argued that the Deputy Speaker is not a member of the Committee, therefore, the 25 members of the Appointment Committee should be constituted in accordance with the agreed ratio of 138 to 137, which would translate into 13 to 12 in favour of the Majority Caucus.
He argued the NDC Caucus, who were so strict in their understanding of the Constitution and demanded the need to pursue the secret ballot system are now demanding equality of membership of Committees though the Majority has one more seat.
The NDC Minority, he said, is full of mischief and plots to ambush Parliament for strict governance in this critical period of Covid-19.
