The Deputy Majority Chief Whip in Parliament, Habib Iddrisu, has disagreed with the assertion that the current happenings in Parliament is strengthening the country’s democracy.
Speaking ahead of parliamentary sitting today, he averred that the happenings were not in its right and as such cannot be attributed to strengthening the nation’s democracy since it is an incident and a decision that was taken against the constitution of the Republic of Ghana.
“A decision that was arrived at that point contravened the standing orders of Ghana and of Parliament. In terms of what happened, it is something that has never happened. So, I don’t see how these happenings will strengthen our democracy”.
Habib Iddrisu
Habib Iddrisu noted that with how tight the current Parliament is and the recent happenings surrounding the sittings, there is the need for the Parliamentarians to build more consensus going forward.
“What happened on Friday is something that shouldn’t have happened because the Article 101 of the constitution has made it clear. For a decision to be determined by Parliament, you need to ensure that majority of the members are present. The standing order 109 of our parliament also says that no decision should be booked if you don’t have the [specific] members present but we saw that when the Speaker was doing the announcement, he said the No’s were Zero”.
Habib Iddrisu
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The Deputy Majority Chief Whip posited that 137 members cannot make a decision. He stated that the budget is for the nation and the minority cannot sit down alone to make a decision to either accept or reject the budget of the republic of Ghana.
“So, certainly, it wasn’t supposed to happen and as a House, we will sit through and see how we can amicably resolve this issue”.
Habib Iddrisu
Speaker’s absence wouldn’t affect proceedings
Habib Iddrisu disclosed that in the case of the absence of the Speaker of Parliament in relation to the budget approval, that will not affect proceedings of the House.
He stated that as indicated in Article 104, except otherwise provided in the Constitution, matters in Parliament shall be determined by the votes of majority of members present and with at least half of all the members present.
“Mind you the same Constitution says that the Speaker cannot be a member of Parliament. So, now that the Speaker is not there, the First Deputy Speaker or the Second Deputy Speaker, if they are going to preside, they are first of all MPs before being Speaker. So, if you want to count the MPs present, they are part of it. It is just that when they are presiding that they don’t vote. So, the Constitution is very clear on that”.
Habib Iddrisu
The Deputy Majority Chief Whip asserted that unlike the Speaker of Parliament, the Deputy Speakers who preside over the House can vote on any proceedings.
