Minority rescinds decision

Page 13, July 14, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah & Daniel Nkrumah

THE Minority has rescinded its decision not to participate in votes and decision making in the House in a row over an alleged $5,000 bribery scandal raised on the floor of the House by the MP for Sene, Mr Felix Twumasi Appiah.
The Minority had resolved not to participate in the decision making or voting in the House until the determination of the case by the Privileges Committee but the Minority Leader yesterday told the House that the withdrawal of the controversial statement by the MP, Mr Twumasi Appiah, had informed its decision.
Minority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told the House that official report of the proceedings in the House confirmed that Mr Felix Twumasi-Appiah had indeed withdrawn his statement at a time the Minority members of the House were exiting the Chamber.
He said the Minority’s resolve had been based on the refusal of Mr Twumasi-Appiah to withdraw those statements: We have seen that he has withdrawn the statement while members of the Minority were exiting,” the Minority Leader noted.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said although the decision to walkout was a difficult one it was the most honourable thing to do under the circumstance.
The Minority Leader however, raised issue with the adoption of the report of the Finance Committee on the $300 million IDA facility at a time when clearly, the number of MPs in the House did not meet the requirement of the law.
The report was adopted at a time when the Minority had walked out of the House and the official records showed that the number of Majority MPs in attendance that day was not at least half the number of the total number of MPs required by law to take that decision.
Hpwever, the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr John Tia said the register of official did not capture all MPs who attended sitting as the record keepers left the House before the Majority mobilized its members to adopt the report.
But that argument was sharply countered by the MP of Sekondi who said in as much as he appreciated the difficulty of the Deputy Majority Leader he should be careful not to mislead the House since the record of votes and proceedings had been duly approved by the House.
The Speaker, Mrs Joyce Bamford-Addo in her intervention urged the House to stick to the official records of votes and proceedings.
Meanwhile, the House has approved a $38.10 million loan agreement between the government and the African Development Bank (ADB) for the implementation of the Tema-Aflao Road rehabilitation project.
The House also approved a $6.45 million loan agreement between the government and the ADB for the implementation of the Techiman-Kintampo Road Rehabilitation Programme.