"The Independent" offends Parliament again

Accra, July 13, GNA - The Speaker of Parliament Mr Peter Ala Adjetey on Tuesday in Parliament gave an ultimatum to "The Independent", an Accra-based private newspaper, to retract and render an unqualified apology to the Speaker and the House by the end of this week for woefully misrepresenting the Speaker and the House in its Monday July 12, 2004 edition.

The story in question had the headline: 'Speaker Rejects Minister's Estimates' on the front page of the said edition of the paper. It was a report on answers given by the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Akwasi Owusu Yeboah to an urgent question, which stood in the name of Mr Francis Agbotse, NDC - Ho West, regarding the renovation of the new residence of the Ho District Chief Executive (DCE).

The Speaker, read portions of the story to the House and expressed dismay over what he called an absolute misrepresentation of what transpired during the Volta Regional Minister's visit to the House to answer questions.

He asked Members: "Was this what took place last Friday when the Volta Regional Minister came to the House to answer that question?" Mr Ala Adjetey said he was "even the more surprised that the Dean of the Press Corp, Mr Andrew Edwin Arthur reported and fabricated such a report and wondered whether the Mr Arthur was actually present, since his report had no bearing to what happened last Friday".

"The Independent" reported that, "the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Peter Ala Adjetey, last Friday rejected estimates presented to the House by the Volta Regional Minister in respect of the renovation of a new residence for the Ho DCE."

The Report also said; "the Speaker, who obviously was not convinced by the answers given by the Regional Minister on how monies allotted for the renovation increased by 105 million cedis asked Parliament to institute a committee of enquiry into the estimates presented to the House and report its findings".