Why is Joe Osei Owusu dividing the rights of the people of Bekwai; doing one and refusing to do another one? Should the people of Bekwai remove him? This question was posed to the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) by the Director of Legal Affairs for the opposition National Democratic Congress, Lawyer Abraham Amaliba in an interview on A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper East show regarding the drama that greeted the approval process of the 2022 budget statement and economic policy.
The First Deputy Speaker who sat in for the Speaker said on Tuesday, Joseph Osei Owusu said that “the House has adopted the Financial statement and approved the budget statement for the ensuing year ending 31st December 2021″.
But Mr. Amaliba who is also a member of the NDC’s Communications team, opined that what transpired in Parliament is a scar on Ghana’s democracy. He said the incident contravenes Article 104 of the 1992 Constitution.
He stressed that it was erroneous for the Bekwai Legislator to preside over proceedings and act as a Member of Parliament at the same time.
“Their argument that he is a Member of Parliament for Bekwai is a warped one. The people of Bekwai didn’t send him there to go and be counting himself; they took him there to take a decision and the voting is the decision. How come he gave the people of Bekwai half of what they sent him there. This democracy is being bastardized by this administration.” He argued.
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General, Joseph Dindiok Kempka in a riposte to Lawyer Amaliba, washed off the latter’s assertion indicating that happenings in Parliament is an effort to deepen the country’s democracy. He admitted that the situation the country finds itself is a novel one where everyone could express his or her opinion based based on an individual’s perspective.
According to him, all the Members of Parliament present in the house during the decision-making process were representing their respective Constituencies and that Mr. Joseph Osei Owusu was representing his constituents at the time.
Mr. Kempka explained that what occurred in parliament is constitutionally valid and binding.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz| Elijah Beyeni Yenibey | Ghana
