Hon. Hassan Tampuli, Deputy Minister of Transport, has denied his ministry’s involvement in amending the Legislative Instrument (L.I) that would have granted MPs, ministers, and judges permission to use sirens and drive at unlimited speeds.
According to the Deputy Minister, the Chairperson of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, a member of the minority, was the one who pushed for the inclusion of the above-mentioned public officials.
“The [Transport] Minister disagreed that if that happens it was going to create some amount of chaos in the society. You can imagine all 275 MPs driving around with sirens blurring all over the place, there’s going to be some amount of disorder and the Minister disagreed at that meeting and the records will show.
“On the day that I went to Parliament to lay the Instrument, when I rose to lay it I was stopped by the Chairman of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee. And the Speaker directed that we should let the Chairman of the committee verify if the proposed amendment had been included before we were allowed to lay it”.
Hon. Hassan Tampuli
Hon. Tampuli admitted that the Ministry sought to amend parts of the Road Traffic Regulations 2012, explaining that the original amendment, presented to the Committee in February 2024, intended to update the existing L.I. to align with modern times, specifically addressing electric vehicles.
“…when you go and have the pre-laying meeting with the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, you go through the amendment one after the other. So in the course of this clause review, we got to the clause, and members of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, chaired by Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, insisted that we must expand the scope of this particular clause”.
Hon. Hassan Tampuli
Hon. Tampuli declared that the Transport Ministry was relieved to withdraw the L.I., having never been in favor of it initially.
He stressed that the Ministry of Transport and the government had no desire whatsoever to allow ministers and MPs to use sirens and drive above speed limits, emphasizing that if the Ministry had wanted to do so, it would have done so in 2017.
He implied that it’s not a time for offering special favors to MPs and Ministers, especially with elections just six months away.
Hon. Tampuli pointed out that no member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee can deny that the provisions came from there.
Wassa East MP Clarifies Minority’s Stance On L.I.
Meanwhile, Hon. Isaac Adjei Mensah, the Member of Parliament for Wassa East, has explained the Minority’s position on the Legislative Instrument (L.I.) submitted by the Ministry of Transport to Parliament.
Hon. Mensah argued that the proposal’s timing is ill-suited given the current election year and the nation’s economic difficulties.
He added that the Minority in Parliament chose to dissociate themselves from the L.I. due to intense public criticism.
“The Ministry brought the LI to Parliament for the amendment of traffic regulations to give MPs the power to escape traffic and get to meetings on time… If people say they do not want it we have to stop. There are more problems to be solved in the country rather than MPs using a siren… at the right time, it can be brought back up.”
“The government Majority and the opposition Minority discuss laws before they are passed. If there are problems and the public is against it, withdrawing it is the best thing to do to maintain peace in the country”.
Hon. Isaac Adjei Mensah
The Wassa East MP emphasized that the primary responsibility of MPs is to serve the people, and the decision to withdraw the L.I. was made with the public’s best interests in mind, reflecting the Parliament’s commitment to prioritizing the needs of the citizens.
