Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has urged the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to preside over the parliamentary sittings when controversial matters are before the House.
According to Fuseini, this will prevent the First or Second Deputy Speakers from attempting to vote – a move that triggered fisticuffs in the Chamber late last year.
In an interview on Accra–based Joy News channel, the former ranking Member on Parliament’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee tasked the Business Committee of the House to identify when Bagbin will be available to preside over sittings.
His comment after a recent move by the Council of State to broker peace talks between the leadership of Parliament over the irreconcilable rift over the E-Levy.
“The absence of dialogue can lead to confrontations and that is why the efforts of the Peace Council and eminent Ghanaians who have sought to talk on the rift in Parliament is commendable.
“I think that they need to work out a program. The numbers are such that if Joseph Osei-Owusu is presiding and then he is not allowed to vote then any controversial issue where the parties take entrenched positions will fail by the dictates of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.
“So they need to work out a formula where on very important matters that are controversial, the speaker will be available to preside and then the status quo is maintained.
“So if members of the Majority are not available to push through with the policy of government, then nobody can blame it on the First or Second Deputy Speaker presiding and wanting to vote.
“I think that because of the precarious nature of Parliament and the numbers, most matters that will require debate and division in Parliament…the speaker must endeavor to preside,” he said on news program, Top Story.
Mr. Fuseini added that, “the speaker has to attend to his health but he’s available to preside in Parliament when he is in Ghana and when his health permits him.
Background
Members of Parliament have sharply been divided over the controversial E-levy since it was announced on November 17 in the government’s 2022 budget statement.
Whiles the majority of NPP MPs are in support of it, the NDC minority side are opposed to it.
It will be recalled that Majority and Minority members of Parliament clashed on the floor on Monday, December 20, 2021 when the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu (Joe Wise) attempted to make way for the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah to preside over the house.
Ashantibiz
