The Minority Caucus in Parliament staged a walkout accusing First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor of frustrating parliamentary oversight by preventing members from asking supplementary questions to a minister.

The protest followed a ruling by the Deputy Speaker during proceedings on July 15, 2026, after Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin sought to ask the Minister of Communication a follow-up question on the government's planned re-registration of SIM cards.

Afenyo-Markin had attempted to seek clarification on whether the exercise was being undertaken in accordance with procurement procedures and at what cost to the state.

However, the Deputy Speaker ruled the question out of order, stating that it went beyond the scope of the original question.

The ruling prompted members of the Minority to walk out of the chamber in protest.

Speaking to journalists after the walkout, Afenyo-Markin accused the First Deputy Speaker of repeatedly using parliamentary rules to frustrate members of the Minority and weaken Parliament's oversight responsibility.

"We have observed that the First Deputy Speaker has a way of using the rules to stampede parliamentary oversight," he said.

"You've all observed that he started an attack on our backbenchers. Any time our backbenchers were on the floor, he will use the rules to frustrate them."

The Minority Leader maintained that his supplementary question was relevant to the minister's response and served the public interest.

"This is a government policy seeking to start SIM registration afresh. They claim people use unverifiable identities. Our question is, at what cost? How many people were identified to have used stolen IDs? Especially when the minister himself said it would be at no cost to subscribers," he said.

Minority walks out of Parliament again

"That's a harmless question. It's in the interest of the Ghanaian public to know how much it is costing the nation."

Citing Parliament's Standing Orders, Afenyo-Markin argued that Order 89.1 permits members to ask supplementary questions based on a minister's answer for the purpose of clarification.

"The rules under 89.1 allow you to anchor your supplementary question on an answer given by the minister for the purpose of clarification," he said.

"The rules are not meant to be used to intimidate, frustrate, and bring Parliament to a standstill."

He further claimed that the Deputy Speaker's ruling did not enjoy the support of members on the Majority side.

"As you observed, even his own side disagreed with him. The Majority Leader himself realised that what he was doing was wrong," he alleged.

Afenyo-Markin said the walkout reflected months of frustration over the Deputy Speaker's handling of proceedings.

"We've tolerated the First Deputy Speaker for quite some time," he said.

Despite the protest, he indicated that the Minority would return to the chamber to continue participating in parliamentary business.

"We protested his posture on this very matter. We're going back into the chamber to deal with other business," he said.

MRA/AM

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