The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, is urging the majority in parliament not to create any situation in the House that would force the minority into throwing punches.
The majority would have to stick to the rules. “We should not have situations where in parliament we have to defend with fisticuffs.
That is not acceptable, that is not a good impression to create, that’s not a good example to create of what should be the conduct of leaders in our country.”
This comes amid calls by the majority chief whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, for prosecution of any errant MP.
“I can understand him if he makes those calls and I believe that we all are concerned about this situation and I hope that we do not find ourselves in that situation again.
At the same time, we also must ensure that the rules are interpreted properly, that those who are in authority and presiding conduct themselves according to the rules.
In all the instances when the House has been turned into chaos, it is because members who are on the side of the minority believe that there has been an attempt to violate the rules in a way that they might never have an opportunity to correct if they allow the rules to be violated.”
This comes as parliament resumes sitting and high on the agenda is the electronic transaction tax (e-levy) and given the overheated rhetoric, it remains to be seen how things are going to pan out.
The minority has threatened to shoot down the tax. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the Majority Leader, however, finds the posturing of the minority baffling.
“The difficulty for me is, when people are kicking against the e-levy, when they know that in the adoption of the motion to approve the budget which contains the e-levy as a policy, we approved of that, so it means that the first step has already been taken.
The receivables of the e-levy have been factored into the various estimates approved for all the sectors. That is the second thing we did. Thirdly, we encapsulated everything into the appropriations bill and passed it unanimously. You have approved of the e-levy.”
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