Leader of the NPP Caucus in Parliament, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin
$250m Loan, Tax Exemptions, Bills: Here are the urgent business listed by NPP Caucus as party falls on Speaker to recall parliament
The New Patriotic Party Caucus in Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, urging him to recall the House to deal with urgent business.
In their letter to the Speaker, the Caucus listed three key issues to be addressed, for which it has triggered Article 112(3) of the 1992 Constitution and Standing Order 53 of the Parliament of Ghana.
Describing the business as urgent and of national importance, the NPP Caucus listed tax exemptions for beneficiaries of the One District, One Factory Programme and the approval of a $250 million Ghana Financial Stability Fund aimed at boosting the country’s financial sector, as well as some bills for the House to attend to upon its resumption.
“We respectfully request that, upon recall of the House, the following urgent government business be deliberated upon and transacted, including any other business that comes before the House:
1; Request for tax exemptions for designated beneficiaries under the One District, One Factory Programme.
2. Ghana Financial Stability Fund, an International Development Association facility of Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars ($250,000,000).
3. Bills:
i. Environmental Protection Agency Bill, 2024
ii. Social Protection Bill, 2023
iii. Customs (Amendment) Bill, 2024
iv. Budget Bill, 2023
v. Ghana Boundary Commission Bill, 2023
vi. Intestate Succession Bill, 2022,” it added.
The trigger for an urgent recall by the NPP Caucus comes on the back of the Speaker’s indefinite suspension of the House on Tuesday.
Background
On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, adjourned the sitting of the House sine die (indefinitely), just a week after Members of Parliament reconvened following a long recess.
Speaker Bagbin, before suspending the proceedings of Parliament, indicated that even though the House had the numbers to form a quorum for a meeting, it did not have the numbers to make decisions per the Standing Orders of the House.
The House did not have the numbers for decision-making because New Patriotic Party Members of Parliament had boycotted the sitting over the brouhaha on which political party should form the Majority Caucus.
The Speaker mentioned the directive by the Supreme Court asking him to stay his declaration of four seats in the House vacant, which has made MPs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) the Majority Caucus.
Bagbin did not indicate whether he was going to adhere to the order of the court and went on to adjourn the House indefinitely.
The Supreme Court of Ghana on October 18, 2024, stayed the ruling of Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, in the matter of the vacation of some four seats.
This occurred as the highest court in the land, led by Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, considered an application from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament.
The decision by the apex court effectively suspends the implementation of the Speaker’s ruling on October 17, 2024, pending further legal review and final determination.
Bagbin had granted a motion by the Leader of the NDC caucus in Parliament, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson to declare some four seats vacant, making the NDC the party with majority members in Parliament.
Delivering his ruling, the Speaker noted that the decision by the affected MPs to contest in the December 7, 2024, election as independent or on the ticket of a party different from the party on whose ticket they currently serve contravened Article 97(g) and (h) of the 1992 Constitution.
He noted that the motive and operational effect of Article 97(g) and (h) was to cure the issues of cross-carpeting and defection as witnessed in parliaments of old.
He stated that the intent of Article 97(g)(i) was to cure party loyalty throughout the stay of an MP in Parliament.
He emphasised that the affected MPs, by their decision and the Notice of Polls issued by the Electoral Commission for the December 7, 2024, parliamentary elections, have vacated their seats.
The affected seats and their MPs included Cynthia Morrison (Agona West), Kwadjo Asante (Suhum), Andrew Amoako Asiamah (Fomena), and Peter Kwakye Ackah (Amenfi Central).
The NDC is upholding the Speaker’s ruling, while the NPP is supporting the Supreme Court’s decision.
GA/KA
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