Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has said the minority in parliament did not approve the passage of the three new tax bills Friday in parliament.

According to him, the clerk of parliament needs to be questioned as to how they managed to get 137 despite the absence of Ahmed Tuferu, who was involved in an accident.

He added that the speaker announced that the majority carried the day with 137 votes based on what was presented to him by the clerk, hence the reason he cannot be blamed.

He explained that if the passage of the revenue bill was passed by consensus, the minority would not have gone through the voting process.

“If we had acquiesced, we wouldn’t have gone through with the vote, we wouldn’t have accounted for our 136, we wouldn’t have challenged what appeared to be an error in counting. We are aware now that at the time we did the first count, Ahmed Tuferu was not in Parliament.

“There are two [majority] MPs who also walked in after the clerks had finished taking the vote from the majority side, so clearly, that vote shouldn’t have read 136, 137, but be that as it may, the Speaker only announces what it is presented to him.

“The clerks have a question to answer as to how they managed to get 137,” citinewsroom.com quoted Sam Goerge.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament has explained why the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nanton Constituency, Northern Region, Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru, was counted despite being absent in the chamber during voting.

According to him, the leaders reported that the MP was incapacitated by some physical infirmity, and based on this, the MPs, including doctor Dickson Adamako Kissi who accompanied the MP, were counted and accordingly recorded.

Mohammed Hardi Tufeiru is reported to have been involved in an accident, preventing him from participating in the head count vote in the chamber.

Following this development, the Minority Chief Whip, Govern Agbogza, quizzed the speaker about why he counted 137 from the majority side of the house despite the absence of two.

Govern Agbodza said, “When we took the last vote, you counted 137 for our colleagues. Some members of the public are aware that two of our colleagues were not physically present here, I think it will be appropriate for you to make a pronouncement so that the public knows why you still counted 137.”

In response, the speaker said, “…that is why I referred you to Order 114 rule 4, and asked you to read that order, but for the education of the public, I will read that order.

“Order 114 rule 4 says for members who are incapacitated by some physical infirmity from passing through the lobbies shall upon reporting their incapacitate to the speaker though the clerk, be counted and recorded accordingly in the house.

“We have some of our members that are incapacitated and what I did was to ask the clerk to go and physically see them, the state of incapacitating, whether they are of sound mind because we are dealing with the decision taken, voting before they can come to testify; which has been done and so they recorded and counted accordingly.”


YNA/BOG