OPPOSITION NATIONAL Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmakers yesterday launched a salvo of accusations against some staff of the parliamentary service, describing them as partisan.
Led by the Minority Chief Whip and MP for Asawase, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, the NDC MPs said they were disappointed with the Clerk to Parliament and the clerks at the table for capturing the names of some of the Minority’s members in the absentees section of the Votes and Proceedings of the House for Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
They berated particularly the Clerk, Cyril Nsiah, for what they described as his failure to supervise the officers at the table to record the walkout by the Minority ahead of the passage of the E-Levy.
The draft Votes and Proceedings of Tuesday recorded nine MPs as having absented themselves from the House on that day, including the NPP MP for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo.
The rest are Dan Abdul-Latif (NDC, Ablekuma Central), Adams Abdul-Salam (NDC, New Edubiase), Nicholas Amankwa (NDC, Amenfi East), Cletus Avoka (NDC, Zebilla), Joseph Appiah Boateng (NDC, Afram Plains South), Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare (NDC, Techiman North), James Gyakye Quayson (NDC, Assin North) and Adams Mohammed Sukparu (NDC, Sissala West).
“I can say on record that, except for Hon. James Quayson, MP for Assin North, every single member on our side was in the House,” Muntaka stated.
For him, it is an “unforgivable error” and “a deliberate mistake” for the walkout staged by the Minority not to be recorded in the official parliamentary document.
“With the greatest of respect to our clerks, it is true that people react to their party affiliations, but what we expect from them is fairness and accurate reporting. This partisan behaviour, we will not tolerate. Their action was deliberate and intended for a purpose, and unfortunately, that purpose has been achieved,” he added.
Mr. Avoka indicated that indeed he did not sign the attendance register because a staff of the parliamentary service asked him to sit, and promised to bring to him the sheet, but the person never came back.
Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare also said even though she was in the chamber, she could not sign the attendance register, while others claimed they were in the chamber and registered to be captured.
Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, expressed sympathy for members who were marked absent on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, but were present.
He, however, indicated that this was not the first time such thing had happened, saying, “It has become a routine issue that almost every day members purported to have been here and yet they have been captured as having been absent and then Mr. Speaker will give a directive that these people have risen to indicate that they were present.”
Speaker
Speaker Alban Bagbin said the emotion of the affected MPs was well placed since “there have been onslaughts of the constituents on MPs for absenting themselves in such an important occasion.”
He said there is a good reason the Order 59 of the Standing Orders is in place for such errors to be corrected, pointing out, “There are no Votes and Proceedings anywhere in the world that are perfect. Usually, they are compiled by the officials at the table office and that is a draft.”
“And therefore, the draft is brought to the House and then given opportunity to the members to right the wrongs that had been captured on the Votes and Proceedings. That is why we have Order 59. Correction of votes and proceedings, and it usually comes as item four on the Order Paper.”
BY Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House