Supreme Court Is Parliament’s Headmaster, We Cannot Approve Loan

…Minority Leader shoots down EUR 38 million loan

The nasty effects of the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling which interfered with the inner workings of Parliament bit the Akufo-Addo government on Tuesday, when an attempt to approve a loan was scuttled.

The loan, a 38 Million Euros facility agreement between Ghana and Deutsche Bank of Germany for the construction of a 40-bed District Hospitals in three constituencies was shot down based on the Supreme Court’s ruling which now subjects Parliament’s workings to the whims of the judiciary.

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, argued that the house did not have the required numbers to form a quorum based on interpretation of articles 102 and 104 by the Supreme Court which gave deputy speakers voting rights.

“Mr Speaker, we are all in this country, the Supreme Court has ruled and provided a dichotomy between a debating quorum or a decision quorum and voting quorum in pursuant to Article 102 and 104 of the Constitution. Looking at the composition of this Parliament… I’m not sure we will be in contempt of the Supreme Court if we proceed to put a question when we do not have a voting quorum….We are no longer masters of our procedures by that ruling,” he pointed out.

The development led to the shelving of both the motion and the loan facility which is purposed for the construction of 40-bed hospitals in Ayensuano, Effiduase, and Offinso as well as the completion and equipping of Old Tafo maternity and Kumasi South maternity blocks.