Joseph Osei-Owusu, aka Joe Wise, Member of Parliament for Bekwai and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, has stated why he has not presided over the House since the near-violent incidents in Parliament on December 1, 2021.
Joe Wise, who was filling in for absentee Speaker Alban Bagbin, delivered a judgement that caused a ruckus in the House and forced him to adjourn.
He has not returned to the seat since that event and his postponement. When the House reconvened the next day, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, the Second Deputy Speaker and MP for Fomena, took his seat and adjourned the session.
Joe Wise addressed his absence on ‘TheProbe,’ a Joy News program that aired last Sunday, when asked why he did not retake his position and also why he did not preside on Thursday.
“I summoned a meeting of the leaders on Thursday (December 2, 2021) to address what I’d seen in videos after I left the chamber. So when the leadership arrived, they informed me that the two sides had indeed created a committee.
“It’s because I was curious about what happened after I exited the Chamber.” And after we discussed it, we decided that we wouldn’t do any real work that morning; it didn’t make sense for me to sit, so I requested the Second Deputy to go ahead and carry out our agreement.”
On Thursday, December 2, 2021, Parliament met for less than five minutes until the Second Deputy Speaker adjourned the session.
“Yes, we went to the chamber and decided to postpone everything until next week….we sat in the chambers, faced each other, and adjourned.”
“This is due to the leaders’ decision, which they communicated to us after the meetings, that we should adjourn to the next week.” In a Citi News interview last Friday, Bawku Central MP Mahama Ayariga said of the brief sitting, “I think fundamentally that is what happened, I mean for very strategic reasons.”
MPs got last Friday off to participate in the National Farmer’s Day celebration. It’s unclear whether Joe Wise will reclaim his position. According to reports, some Minority MPs are trying everything they can to keep him from becoming Speaker of the House.
Source: ghanaweb.com
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