NPP Majority, NDC Minority blame each other for lack of quorum in Parliament

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Majority and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority on Wednesday blamed each other for the lack of quorum to enable the House conduct business. Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the First Deputy Speaker, presiding, had to adjourn the House to Thursday, July 19, when Mr Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, NDC MP for South Dayi, raised the issue of lack of quorum for the House to conduct business. Immediately, after the House had been adjourned by the First Deputy Speaker, both Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority and Mr Frank Annor-Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip, held separate press conferences to address the media, blaming each other for the lack of quorum to enable the House conduct business. Dr Forson noted that the NPP Majority had 137 sitting MPs and that with the only Independent Member inclusive they had 138 members. He said with the 138 Members, the NPP Majority did not need the NDC Minority to constitute a quorum for the House to conduct business. He alleged that most NPP Majority MPs had abandoned the business of the House to conduct their campaigns. ‘…So, we urge them, in as much as they are persecuting our members (in the courts) they should withdraw from the field and come and prosecute the business of the House.’ He said of the 275 Chamber legislature, they need only 92 Members of Parliament to conduct business. He noted that his side of the House would not announce their strategies but that all options were on the table. On his part, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Majority Chief and NPP MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, accused the NDC Minority of abandoning the business of the House. He said he wondered why the Minority Members of the House would not attend upon the business of the House in the Chamber, yet they participate actively in Committees Meetings of the House. He appealed to the Minority to put Ghana first by participating in the business of the House in the Chamber. Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza, the Minority Chief Whip and NDC MP for Adaklu, said the inability of Parliament to conduct business had got nothing to do with the NDC Minority. He alleged that they couldn’t do business in the House on Wednesday, July 19 because only 26 Majority MPs were in the Chamber. He further appealed to the Majority MPs to take the business of the House seriously.

Source: Ghana News Agency