You Can Go To Court - Speaker Tells Minority

Speaker of Parliament, Peter Ala Adjetey has closed the debate on the alleged disappearance of Members of Parliament (MPs) attendance register on December 21, last year – the day the National Reconciliation Bill was passed. The NDC minority, who did not take part in the passage of the bill, has raised questions about the register to support their claims that the bill was passed without a quorum.

The issue has come up for debate in Parliament several times since the House started sitting this year. But now the Speaker says no further debate on the reported missing register will be entertained. Giving his ruling in his characteristic stern manner, Mr Ala Adjetey said the Minority Leader, Alban Bagbin who raised the issue of the missing attendenace register, can go to court.

When Mr Bagbin got to his feet to respond to the ruling, he said that the Speaker had descended into an arena of conflict. This annoyed the Speaker who ordered the Minority Leader to sit down. He did not even allow Mr Bagbin’s pleas to be heard.

Mr Ala Adjetey emphasized that Parliament did not need the attendance register to make decisions since decisions are taken based on the number in the House, noting how often he had been so meticulous about numbers that, he had ended up being critised.

Mr Adjetey said at the time the Reconciliation Bill was being passed, the requisite number of more than 100 MPs were present, even though the minority NDC had walked out. He said that the issue of attendance register should not be raised again.

The Speaker also warned the MPs to mind their language in the House, declaring that any member who accused him of descending into an arena of conflict will be raising doubts about his integrity. This, he said, was intolerable