Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has called on the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, to admit more motions from the Minority Caucus in Parliament this session to allow balanced debate and effective advocacy.
According to him, repeated rejections in the previous session frustrated the opposition’s ability to advocate on key national issues.
Speaking to on Tuesday, February 3, ahead of the resumption of Parliament, Mr. Afenyo-Markin urged the Majority ti adopt a more accommodating approach towards the Minority in the new parliamentary session.
“We hold the view that in this meeting the majority should be more accommodating. They must hear us. They must allow the minority to do more advocacy.”
He then added that the Minority expects a marked improvement in how motions are treated by the Speaker.
“We expect Speaker to be admitting more and more of it motions. Last year we went through a lot of frustrations. You file the motion, declined, and sometimes it comes at the 11th hour,” he stated.
Citing a specific incident, the Minority Leader referred to a motion filed in relation to the nomination and vetting of Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, which he said was rejected too late for meaningful engagement.
“A typical example was the motion we filed on the CJ nomination. We filed it on time and wanted to advocate our issues on the house floor. Over 2 weeks, it was midnight of the Friday preceding the Monday when we were going to do the vetting that the Clerk communicated that our motion has been rejected,” he said.
That situation escalated to the point where the Minority walked out of the vetting process in protest.
He described the experience as frustrating and expressed hope that the current session of Parliament would allow for greater fairness and openness in parliamentary proceedings.
