Speaker refuses private motion on energy crisis

The Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Sekyi Hughes on Wednesday dismissed a move for a private member's motion, which was to be moved by two MPs, of Haruna Iddrisu for Tamale South and Alhaji Amadu Sorogho for Abokobi Madina.

The Speaker said he could not allow the motion to be moved on the floor because he did not have notice of the said motion.

The motion filed by the members was to engage the House in a discussion of the energy crisis faced by the country currently.

The Members stated that the House was disappointed by the government's handling of the energy crisis almost a year after it started and further expressed lack of confidence in the government's announced programme to end the crisis. They said steps should be taken to comprehensively deal with the crisis which is of grave national concern.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Alhaji Sorogho, who is also a Member of the Energy Committee said the crisis could have been prevented because everyone knew it would happen.

He added that if the NPP on assumption of power had followed the laid down procedure, this would not have happened. The idea was that for every year 200 megawatts should be added to make up for the expansion of the country.

According to him, they were drawing the government's attention to the fact that they were not happy at the way the energy crisis was being handled because it was affecting every aspect of the economy and creating unemployment.

He explained that the government was trying to down play the problem with the hope that with time, people would forget about it but as a responsible opposition, it was their duty to bring to the attention of the government that they could not sweep the problem under the carpet except to find a permanent solution.

He said the Speaker admitted that he had not seen the motion and as such could not be blamed for the action.

He was however hopeful that the motion might be admitted on Thursday.

Credit: The Chronicle