Speaker Suspends Sitting Over Disagreements Between The Minority And Majority

For the second time this year, the Speaker of Parliament has been forced to suspend sitting over disagreements between the Minority and Majority sides of the House.

On Tuesday February 22, the Speaker was forced to suspend sitting because the House could not form a quorum during a debate on the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.

This time round, the suspension was triggered by the Majority’s demand that the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu apologise to the House for not escorting President Mills out of the chamber after he delivered the third State of the Nation Address, which is a parliamentary practice.

Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has since rendered an unqualified apology to the President for an action he said was triggered by the President’s partisan approach and language when he delivered the address. During the address, President Mills failed to recognize the presence of Ex President Kufuor and the Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood. The President has since described it as an oversight and apologised to the two personalities.

However, the Majority on Tuesday March 1, demanded a separate apology from Mr. Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu to the House since according to them, his action was an affront to the country’s Legislature.

But Mr. Kyei-Mensa Bonsu insists he would not apologize to the House once he had rendered an apology to the President and the people of Ghana. This generated heated debate on the floor, forcing the Speaker, Justice Bamford Addo, to suspend sitting.

The Majority Leader says his side will not let the matter rest until Mr. Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu apologises to the House. NDC MP for the Komenda Edina Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) Constituency, Dr. J.S. Annan, who is leading the ‘apology campaign’ told Citi News the Majority side will take further action against the Minority Leader if he fails to apologize.

“As you follow the debate, you can clearly see the conduct of the Minority Leader was very disreputable and a very sad day for Parliament. Parliament has a dignity to preserve. By not showing respect to the President, he brings the whole of Parliament into disrepute because whatever his views are, there are conventions that we have to heed in Parliament.

“Now I think in his anger, he has come out to say that he won’t apologize to Parliament because he has apologized to the President and the people of Ghana”.

According to the MP, Mr. Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu’s apology to the President was not sincere enough since he only did it because the President had first apologized.

Dr. J.S. Annan told Citi News the Majority will use the Standing Orders of the House to force the Minority Leader to apologize, but if that fails, he may be dragged before the Privileges Committee of Parliament.