Debate in Parliament on clause 23 (1) (2) of the Petroleum Revenue Management bill 2010 stalled and subsequently deferred when a member tabled an amendment encapsulating the wishes of the Chiefs of the Western Region.
\nThe Western Regional chiefs had tabled wishes and demands to Parliament that included the allocation of ten per cent of Ghana\u2019s share of the oil and gas proceeds for the development of the Region.
\nMr Kwabena-Okyere Darko-Mensah, NPP member for Takoradi who sponsored the amendment sent the house into deadlock over the legitimacy of his proposal hence the deferral.
\nHe had based his argument on Article 108 of the 1992 constitution which states: Parliament shall not, unless the bill is introduced or the motion is introduced by, or on behalf of , the President, (a) proceed upon a bill including an amendment to a bill, that in the opinion of the person presiding, makes provision for any of the following;
\n(ii) The imposition of a charge on the consolidated fund or other public funds of Ghana or the alteration of any such charge otherwise than by reduction.
\nMr Darko said the bill was introduced by a member of the Executive on behalf of the President and so can be amended by Parliament.
\nMr Avoka told the member that: \u201cwe are looking at the original bill, saying the provision in the original bill must indicate that there is a charge on the consolidated fund and if it is not included then any alteration of the constitution is null and void.\u201d
\nAccording to the original bill, outside of the national budget allocations, extra budgetary activities and statutory earmarking of petroleum revenues for any special consideration is prohibited.Mr Darko said his proposal was not a charge on the consolidated fund but was all about apportioning.
\nMr Darko\u2019s proposal was to be considered after an earlier one proposed by the Chairman of the Committee, James Klutse Avedzi, who proposed an amendment to the effect that \u201cExtra budgetary activities and statutory earmarking of petroleum revenue for any exceptional purpose is prohibited.\u201d
\nAccording to Mr Darko, if the Chairman\u2019s proposal was accepted and inserted in the bill, his proposal would be rendered irrelevant that was why he demanded that his issue was handled before the Chairman\u2019s amendment proposal.
\nMr Darko proposes that \u201cOutside the Western Regional Development Fund and the national budgetary allocations, extra budgetary activities and statutory earmarking of petroleum revenues for any special consideration prohibited.\u2019
\nThe debate continued until Mr Adjaho called for the debate on the clause to be deferred to a later date.
\nHowever in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Darko said if his amendment proposal was ignored, he would seek the Supreme Court\u2019s interpretation on the Article, According to him, Parliament has ever amended a clause to increase the number of Board members for an activity in a bill which was not considered a charge on the consolidated fund and asked:\u201dwhy should this proposal should be seen as a charge on the consolidated fund?\u201d
\nHe said that the Majority were only misinterpreting Article 108.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Debate in Parliament on clause 23 (1) (2) of the Petroleum Revenue Management bill 2010 stalled and subsequently deferred when a member tabled an amendment encapsulating the wishes of the Chiefs of the Western Region. The Western Regional chiefs had tabled wishes and demands to Parliament that included the allocation of ten per cent of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n