They are doing so because he does not belong to their party
NDC MP for North Tongu says there is a clear pattern of undermining
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the Majority group in Parliament have made it a point to undermine Speaker Alban Bagbin.
According to him, the sole reason they are doing so is because Bagbin is a member of the National Democratic Congress.
The Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs Committee cited two prior instances where the Majority acted with ill motive towards Bagbin – i.e. the matter of Police versus the Madina MP and the LGBTQ+ Bill.
“The majority side has been consistent, right from the Sosu matter, even on the LGBTQI+ position that the speaker has expressed, there has been a consistent effort to undermine the speaker because he is not from the ruling party,” he said on November 19 on Joy FM’s Top Story programme.
His comments were in reaction to a recent directive of the Speaker which has been stiffly opposed by the Majority. Bagbin this week ordered Roads Minister to reverse an administrative order suspending toll collection as contained in the yet-to-be approved 2022 budget.
When asked about the 499 School of Law students issue and the fact that it took a resolution for the Speaker to direct that they be admitted, Ablakwa responded: “resolutions are one of the processes.”
He continued: “Parliament is a master of its own processes, our standing orders… this is not the first time the Speaker will issue a directive without a resolution… it happens always.”
He went ahead to read part of the budget statement where Ofori-Atta spoke about the tolls stressing the fact that the cessation was to take effect after the passage of the budget. “You do not on your own claim that you are only effecting administrative decisions, let’s get serious.”
The Majority Caucus in Parliament is defending the Roads Minister, Kwesi Amoako-Atta, over an administrative fiat he issued for the suspension of all road and bridge tolls nationwide.
The Speaker agreed with the Minority Caucus that the cessation of tolling was contained in a budget that had yet to be approved hence the Minister had acted ultra vires – beyond his legal capacity.
The Majority’s defence has been that the Minister has the right to suspend the tolls with the Ministry’s recent statement stating that it was to avert violent occurrences between motorists and toll booth attendants.
What Ofori-Atta said about the cessation of Road, Bridge tolls
“Government has abolished all tolls on public roads and bridges. This takes effect immediately the Budget is approved,” Ken Ofori-Atta hinted while reading the 2022 budget statement in Parliament.
He added, “Over the years, the tolling points have become unhealthy market centres, led to heavy traffic on our roads, lengthened travel time from one place to another, and impacted negatively on productivity.
"The congestion generated at the tolling points, besides creating these inconveniences, also leads to pollution in and around those vicinities.”
The Finance Minister stressed that, “a portion of the proceeds from the E-Levy will be used to support entrepreneurship, youth employment, cyber security, digital and road infrastructure among others.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa is MP for North Tongu