Parliamentary proceedings scheduled for Tuesday, June 27, 2023, have been adjourned to Thursday, June 29, 2023.
According to parliament, the adjournment was necessitated by the ongoing by-election in Assin North.
Speaking on the floor, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, moved the decision to adjourn after he expressed concerns about quorum.
During the session on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, only fourteen Members of Parliament were present, with three belonging to the Minority Caucus and eleven from the Majority group. In light of the low attendance, Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu proposed the adjournment.
Following this, parliamentary proceedings will resume on Thursday, June 29, 2023, allowing for increased attendance and participation from Members of Parliament.
“There is a very important activity that is taking place outside of Parliament and many of our colleagues are taking part in that enterprise. It is significant to observe in today’s sitting that the Majority outnumbers the Minority by 300 percent and so I recommend we deal with just the presentation of papers and when we are done, I believe we take an adjournment and so I will plead that we alter the business for today.”
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu
On his part, the available leader for the Minority Caucus, James Agalga, seconded the motion raised by the majority leader. He stated that it will be difficult for parliament to transact any business without the required number of representation.
“It is obvious that we are not properly constituted to transact any meaningful business but before we even get to the point of getting those objections, if it is about the presentation of papers, I don’t think that should cause us any injury and we may yield and do the presentation and take it from there.”
James Agalga
NPP calls on police to protect party’s stronghold
Meanwhile, in Assin North, the Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has called on the police to provide protection in their stronghold of Brekum in the Assin North constituency. He revealed that the 800 police officers deployed on the ground are not up to the task.
“All we are calling the police to do is to ensure that they provide security the way they promised that they will bring men here.”
Richard Ahiagbah
Mr Ahiagbah indicated that members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are preventing electorates from coming out in their numbers to vote. He further accused the NDC of intentionally creating a hostile environment in the area.
“As I speak to you, there is a polling station where initially, they started coming as of 11am or so. When I got here, about 270 something had voted, but the last time I went to check, it has only risen up to 282. Naturally, that tells you that people are being prevented from coming to vote because of the hostile environment created, and we’re saying that this is an intentional deployment of the NDC to ensure that they suppress the votes in our stronghold.”
Richard Ahiagbah
Commenting on whether his concerns have been reported to the police, he noted that the party has done that, however, “their performance on the grounds is not matching up”.
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