The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, has admonished members of parliament to “take the House seriously” as it once again failed yesterday to form a quorum.
Consequence of that, the House could not conduct business as less than 50 lawmakers were present in the chamber, far below the 92 members required for a quorum.
“We have to take the House seriously. If you followed media discussion over the weekend, you would notice that it has all been about Parliament and the fact that we don’t get the numbers to do business.
“This is unbecoming. Today will be the last day we will raise this issue of quorum,” Mr Amoako said.
It was the fifth time in nine parliamentary sittings the House failed to conduct business because it did not have the required numbers.
The Minority have been on a crusade against what it said was persecution of the member for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson, by the Attorney-General and have boycotted sitting on days Mr Quayson appeared in court to lend their support to him.
In their absence, the 138 Majority caucus has also not been able to raise the needed numbers to undertake business of the House.
At the commencement of sitting yesterday, Member for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Dafeamekpor, coming under Article 102 of the Constitution said the House did not have the commencement quorum of a third of the House to proceed with business.
Coming under Standing Order 48(2), the First Deputy Speaker and MP for Bekwai, Joseph Osei Owusu, prayed the Speaker to direct for the bell to be rang and after 10 minutes when a quorum was not formed, he adjourned the House.
Parliament, he said, was not living up to the expectation of the electorate and entreated the whips to do more to ensure their members made themselves available for the business of the House.
Meanwhile, the Majority and Minority caucuses are blaming each other for not taking the business of the House seriously.
Minority Leader and MP for Ajumako/ Enyan/Essiam, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, told journalists that their colleagues in the Majority have no moral justification to accuse them of frustrating government business when they have more than the 92 members needed to form a quorum.
According to him, members of the Majority caucus have abandoned the House to tour the country with presidential candidate aspirants, who are campaigning to lead the NPP into the 2024 elections.
Dr Forson said: “The NPP should not expect the NDC to do government business for them whilst they sit in the comfort of their homes, draw on salaries, go to constituencies with fuel in government vehicles and be campaigning.
“We urge them that in as much as they are persecuting our members, they should withdraw from the field and come and do business here.”
But, Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, said the inability of his caucus members to be on the floor was because they were at committee sittings.
“The tactics our colleagues are adopting is that they come and write their names and withdraw. I saw many of them today. If this is how they are going to serve mother Ghana, the good people of this country will decide. We are extremely disappointed that they came in their numbers and when it was time to prosecute the business of the House, they withdrew. That is most unfortunate,” he said.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
