Minority Chief Whip, Mubarak Muntaka, has cautioned the Clerk of Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Nsiah, over his omission of names of some NDC MPs from its records in the Votes and Proceedings of the House on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Describing the action of the clerk as “most unforgivable error” and a “deliberate mistake”, Mr Muntaka revealed that the clerk equally failed to record a walkout by the Minority ahead of the passage of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy). Speaking on the floor of the House, he advised the Clerk’s team to discharge their duties devoid of partisanship.
“With the greatest of respect Mr Speaker, we just want to sound caution to our clerk, it is unjust and the Clerk must sit up. Because knowing the day and the issues on that day, he should have been interested to go through to make sure everything was captured properly… I can say on record that, except for Hon. James Quayson, MP for Assin North, every single member on our side was in the House”.
Mubarak Muntaka
Mr Muntaka invariably urged the parliament’s Clerks “with the greatest of respect” to exact “fairness and accurate reporting” in the dispensation of their duties. This, he explained, was due to the fact that there is the tendency of people to react to their party affiliations.
“This partisan behaviour, we will not tolerate. Their action was deliberate and intended for a purpose, and unfortunately, that purpose has been achieved”.
Mubarak Muntaka
Reacting to the assertions by the Minority Chief Whip, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, described the comments by the Minority against the Clerk of Parliament as being “partisan” as unfair. Following this, he intimated that the part of the submission which “accuses the clerk must be expunged” from the records.
“That statement coming from a leader of this House is not acceptable. The Clerk cannot be heard and respond on the floor. So, I think that the issue should be addressed by all. This is not a matter we should split hairs on. I think that this is a matter we must sit in conclave to resolve”.
Alexander Afenyo-Markin
Speaker calls Minority to order
Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Bagbin, has requested the Minority in Parliament to refrain from accusing the Clerk of Parliament of being partisan by erring in marking some NDC legislators as absent from proceedings on Tuesday. Mr Bagbin conceded that it was a “grievous error” on the part of the Clerk, however, he does not believe it was done to spite the minority MPs.
“Being the Speaker and having the ultimate responsibility, I will take responsibility and apologise sincerely to members for this error… I will plead with you that whatever our suspicion [is], it should remain suspicions. Therefore, I am also not happy that the Clerk is being classified as being partisan”.
Alban Bagbin
The Speaker indicated that if Members of Parliament have any evidence that staff of the House have political affiliations, they should report for further investigations. He further directed the table office to rectify the errors.
“The Parliamentary staff as we have it by law, are non-partisan. Any of you who have evidence about the partisanship of any of the staff here should draw my attention to it. We will put the process in place and investigate them and definitely they will not be here; they will be out of here”.
Alban Bagbin
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