The unilateral decision of the Speaker of the Ghanaian Parliament, Professor Mike to suspend the House instead of adjourning sittings has sparked massive condemnation from parliamentarians who descry his dictatorial tendencies.
Members of Parliament were supposed to rise indefinitely after Saturday’s sitting and return in 14 days but the Speaker claimed he suspended the House because of the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak in Ghana but the lawmakers were unhappy with the decision.
Suspending the House meant that the Speaker can recall the MPs anytime.
“…We are suspending Sitting on this day and this Honourable House will stand suspended until the Speaker, in consultation with the leadership of the House deem it fit to ask the House to resume sitting. This action is unprecedented but indeed we are living in unprecedented times and the whole Ghana State is in a state of National Emergency,” Prof Oquaye said.
“Hon. Members, we are not rising today but we are suspending sitting indefinitely. If we should rise, then on any emergency where our intervention will be required we may need two weeks notice according to the Constitution and the Standing Orders. Once sitting is suspended we can ask the House to proceed to work in a day or two,” the Speaker explained.
But Mr Iddrisu told journalist that Prof. Mike Oquaye has only demonstrated for the umpteenth time his tendency to disregard protocol and take unilateral decisions in the House.
According to him, the Speaker has “… become a walking illegality and a threat to parliamentary democracy in the country. I will remind him that he is not the House and it is not for nothing that the Standing Orders in Order 42 provide that he (Speaker) should consult the House and not even the leaders [were consulted].”