Member of Parliament for Walewale, Abdul Kabiru Tiah Mahama, has slammed the government over what he described as the “waste” of parliamentary time following the House’s decision to adjourn until Thursday without conducting significant business.
According to the Minority MP, Parliament has effectively wasted about 75% of the five days for which it was recalled from recess to consider urgent government business.
Speaking to journalists after the House adjourned, Abdul Kabiru Tiah Mahama said the initial reasons given for recalling Parliament were understandable, but accused the government of failing to prepare adequately to enable the House to transact the business.
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The Speaker had recalled Parliament under Order 58(4) of the Standing Orders to deal with three key matters.
These included consideration of amendments to the Depositors Protection Act, consideration of presidential nominees for ministerial positions and consideration of nominees appointed to the Supreme Court.
The Minority, he said, also had a motion seeking an investigation into alleged losses associated with the Domestic Gold Purchase Programme, but had agreed to the Speaker’s decision to restrict the emergency sitting to the matters that necessitated the recall.
The Walewale MP said Parliament is now on the third day of the five-day emergency sitting, yet the major items for which MPs were recalled had not progressed sufficiently.
“Effectively, we have wasted about 75% of the time that we’re supposed to use and consider the urgent matters,” he said.
He noted that the President’s communications on the ministerial and Supreme Court nominees had been referred to the Appointments Committee.
However, he questioned why the committee had not commenced its work.
“We’ve not heard, and you’ve not seen the Appointments Committee meeting because the government has not done its work in a manner that will allow the Appointments Committee to work,” he said.
Abdul Kabiru Tiah criticised the government over the delay in laying the proposed Depositors Protection amendment bill before Parliament.
He argued that bills normally undergo stakeholder consultations and are subsequently laid before Parliament before being referred to the appropriate committee for consideration.
According to him, the bill had neither been laid before the House nor referred to a committee as of Wednesday.
“Are they expecting us to use two days for the bill to be referred to the committee and the committee will look at it and make a proposal to the House for consideration? That is not tenable,” he said.
The MP warned against rushing the legislative process simply because Parliament had only a short period remaining before the end of the emergency sitting.
The Minority legislator accused the government of repeatedly attempting to push major government business through Parliament within a single sitting.
“That has been very characteristic of this government. To use a single day to roll everything that they want to go through in a single day. That is not democracy,” he said.
He accused the government of abusing its parliamentary majority.
“That is abusing the absolute majority that the good people of Ghana have given the NDC government,” he added.
The Walewale MP also raised concerns about the financial implications of recalling Parliament without sufficient business to transact.
He said MPs had been brought back from their constituency engagements while taxpayer resources were being spent on the emergency sitting.
“The ministers should get serious. They cannot abruptly end our recess, and then we are here. Taxpayer resources are wasted,” he said.
The Minority, he said, is ready to support the government to transact the business for which Parliament had been recalled but lamented that these businesses are yet to be brought to the floor of the House.
The Walewale MP taunted the government that if it cannot provide effective leadership, it should hand over the running of government to Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.