Haruna sits with Majority, Akufo-Addo makes new appointments and other highlights of parliament this week

Parliament resumed sitting for the year this week, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, and already it has been filled with many major happenings and big headlines.

Already, the leadership of the Minority Caucus had seen a major shakeup, with the Haruna Iddrisu-led administration being ousted, which many received with shock.

With that out of the way, when parliament resumed sitting, there had to be a determination on how the new administration of the Minority, led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and the outgone leaders, will sit in the Chamber of Parliament.

Ato Forson speaks for the first time in parliament as Minority Leader:

The Member of Parliament for Ajumako Enyan Essiam, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, also made an official statement before the house as a Minority Leader, his first since his new appointment.

In his address, he thanked the party and his colleagues for allowing him to serve while commending Haruna Iddrisu for his distinguished public service since 2017.

"On January 7, 2009, I took the first step in this very chamber towards becoming a representative for the people of Ajumako Enyan Essiam and contributing my quota to Ghana’s parliamentary democracy. Fourteen years on, from a fresh legislator, I have the unique honour of being entrusted with the leadership of the Minority Caucus in the 8th Parliament of the 4th Republic.

“I wish to convey our profound gratitude to my party, the great National Democratic Congress, and our colleagues on the minority side for this opportunity to serve at an even higher level and help shape the trajectory of this Parliament. I want to express, on behalf of my colleagues, our profound appreciation and thanks to the immediate past Minority Leader and my senior brother, the Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, for his many years of distinguished public service and his sterling leadership of the Caucus since 2017,” he said.

He added that the caucus remains firm, resolute, and principled in its journey to discharge oversight duties.

“Both gentlemen have been the very backbone on which the Minority Caucus has leaned all these years. Their masterful perspectives on the affairs of this house have enhanced the work of the caucus and Parliament as a whole. We in the minority are privileged to have you in our caucus.

“To you, my colleagues in the Minority Caucus, we pledge to offer fair and unbiased, balanced, consultative, and principled leadership in our journey to broaden the frontiers of parliamentary oversight and hold the Akufo-Addo & Alhaji Bawumia governments to account in a manner that helps deliver public goods,” he said.

He said he is confident and can assure that the minority side means business and is up to the task.

“We are simply unwilling to countenance any more bad governance, and we will insist on the highest levels of performance from all government officials and institutions over whom this Parliament has oversight and jurisdiction. We are unwilling to be part of any negligence of duty of any sort, and neither shall we tolerate any lackadaisical attitude towards the work of this house by public officials. We will maintain the highest levels of vigilance and offer intense scrutiny of government programs, policies, agreements, bills, and legislative instrument,” he said.



The moment Haruna Iddrisu took over Collins Dauda’s front seat after the Minority Leader 'shift':

In line with the NDC’s reshuffle in their leadership in parliament, per the seating arrangement in parliament, the leaders are usually seated on the first row in the chamber and ranking members sit in the row after that.

The two seats in the front row are usually reserved for the senior-most parliamentarian(s).

Before the reshuffle, Cletus Avoka and Collins Dauda, who are the two longest-serving Members of Parliament, occupied those seats.

However, due to the reshuffle, Collins Dauda, MP for Asutifi South, was to be removed to allow Haruna Iddrisu to occupy that seat.

Cletus Avoka, however, retains his seat in the front row.

Meanwhile, the sitting positions of the former Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, and the former Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi, were yet to be determined.



Akufo-Addo announces changes to his government:

Also on the same day, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, informed parliament that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had sent a letter to announce some new appointments in his government.

According to the letter read out by the Speaker of Parliament, the president was making the changes due to some recent resignations of ministers in his government.

With that, the president appointed Kobina Tahiru Hammond, the MP for Adansi Asokwa, as the new Minister of Trade and Industry; while Bryan Acheampong, MP for Abetifi, will now head the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Other appointments announced were Stephen Asamoah Boateng for the Ministry of Chieftaincy; Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance; and Osei Bonsu Amoah as Minister of State for Local Government.

Stephen Amoah, the Member of Parliament for Nhyiaeso, is to serve as a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.

Haruna Iddrisu rejects Collins Dauda’s seat:

But on Thursday, February 9, 2023, in what seemed to have been a settled case, it emerged that the former Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, had rejected the seat he was offered.

According to him, Collins Dauda is his senior in age and also in terms of his years in parliament; therefore, as a well-trained man, he will not accept the seat.

He, however, added that he is willing to accept any other seat given to him aside from the one Collins Dauda sits on.

While contributing to a motion on the floor of the House, Haruna Iddrisu, who is also the MP for Tamale South, did so from the seat of the First Deputy Speaker, which is located on the Majority side of the chamber.

“Mr Speaker, forgive me that I have to assume your chair, there was [sic] whether I should take over from Collins Dauda or yours and I have told them that honourable Collins Dauda is senior by age and a senior even to this house. So, I will not fit into his chair as somebody who is well-trained from home. So, any other chair Mr speaker acceptable to me, I am still the elected member of parliament for Tamale south,” he said in the chamber on February 9 after he made a contribution.

In essence, the MP became the first MP to have sat on a side of the House when he was not, technically, a member of that side.

Mahama Ayariga tackles Nitiwul over the abandonment of deployed soldiers in Bawku:

Also on Thursday, the MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, tackled the defence minister over what he said was his failure to visit military personnel who were deployed to Bawku for over a year.

According to Mahama Ayariga, the security personnel raised concerns over the absence of Dominic Nitiwul in the area since they were deployed to help deal with the ethnic crisis there, and that he (Mahama Ayariga) had even reached out to the minister to share their complaints with him.

Ayariga’s comments followed an earlier statement he read on the floor of the House where he, among other things, called on parliament to look into military brutalities and the operational style of settling the crisis in Bawku.

Reacting to this, Dominic Nitiwul suggested that Ayariga wouldn’t have read such a statement if he had met him to have discussions about the situation and with the military command.

Mahama Ayariga, in response, also said the minister’s statement was personal and that he (Mahama Ayariga) had earlier told him that he was out of the country and was unavailable for a proposed meeting that the minister had suggested in recent times.

For Ayariga, Dominic Nitiwul’s comments were not justified, considering the Bawku crisis had been ongoing for over a year and such a meeting could have been held earlier if he indeed wanted a quick solution.

He said; “…when was the first time he went to Bawku, it is on record - more than a year until the soldiers were complaining that you, the defence minister, and interior minister, have never visited them, and I brought the complaint to you. Now, you sit here and tell me that the soldiers and the police were complaining that you were never visited them. You brought them to come (Bawku) they are being exposed to death, and you, their commander, never stepped foot there to see them, please let's not talk personally here. I have sat down quietly and listened not because I do not have responses.”

Mahama Ayariga, who is concerned about the constant military brutality on both sides in the conflict, with a recent one leading to the killing of 6 people, then tasked the minister to go to Bawku to get hands-on information on the matter.

“Mr Speaker, where they killed the people, I am pleading with you, go there - go and see with your naked eyes,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Dominic Nitiwul has said that the current conflict in Bawku should not be blamed on the chieftaincy dispute because it is a criminal matter.



Minority clashes with Majority for trying to 'smuggle' new CI into business statement

On Friday, February 10, 2023, after the Deputy Majority leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, read the business statement for next week, the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson, raised concerns that the agenda that was discussed did not include Public Elections (Registration of Voters) Regulations, 2023.

“… Mr Speaker at the meeting, I have a copy of the draft of the agenda we discussed. But to my surprise, I have seen an introduction of the CI which was never discussed at the business committee meeting. But the Deputy Majority Leader, who did not attend the business committee meeting stood here and made a pronouncement that this was agreed upon. Mr Speaker, I am deeply disappointed in the clerks for allowing this to be smuggled into a business statement. This can never be allowed.

“Mr Speaker, if that is the way this administration wants to run the House, Mr Speaker this side of the House is ready for them,” Ato Forson said.

The Public Elections (registration of Voters) Regulations, 2023 was captioned in page 4 (iii)(e) of presentation of papers.

The Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Banda, who described the business statement as a smuggled report, said the House will not entertain it in the chamber.

Mr. Banda added that the Deputy Majority Chief Whip in parliament, Frank Annor Dompreh, had indicated they would smuggle the CI in the business statement and he truly did.

He added that there was a directive that the EC chairperson should appear before the HJouse and brief them on the CI, which includes the rationale behind the CI.

In response, Alexander Afenyo-Markin said that the report should not be rejected if the Minority merely disagrees, but that it should be put on hold.

“Sometimes when your brother disagrees with you and you believe in a solution, you could grant us a temporal leave. Today is Friday. I will want to yield to the views expressed that we place the issue of the CI on ice for now. In other words, it won’t be part of the report,” Afenyo-Markin added.

The Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, in his ruling, said the Majority did not deny that the CI was not part of the business arranged for the week.

“So, what has not been agreed should be excluded and if you discuss and you agree. The leader can make another statement on what was agreed. So, lets exclude what was not part of the business arrange of the week and proceed with what has been arranged for the week,” Joe Wise said.

It will be recalled that in October 2022, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, vowed to stop the laying of a new constitutional instrument (CI) if the Electoral Commission fails to seek audience with the leadership of parliament.

The Commission announced the new C.I which seeks to make the Ghana Card the only proof of nationality for its impending limited registration exercise, which will soon be presented to parliament.

The move has attracted stiff opposition from the NDC and some civil society groups.

Parliament resumes sitting on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

AE/BOG