The mild feud between Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye and Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, which happened in Parliament a few weeks ago has been settled amicably, Prime News has learnt.
According to sources, some respected senior citizens who deemed the incident in Parliament as undemocratic made them call the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu for counsel.
According to Haruna Iddrisu, some elderly and respected names in society have called on him to do good a makeover of his misunderstanding with the highly experienced Speaker of Parliament Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye.
“I must say some respected personalities in the country have since spoken to me… I won’t be able to name them but I have benefited from some fatherly and motherly adviceâ€, he said.
He indicated that together with other leaders of the house, they intended to have a retreat to build more consensus and understanding for the success of the business of the house.
“We have all said we should have a leadership retreat. There are many things that we are not happy about. We have some reservations, we need to work at it. I should be fair to him (Speaker)â€.
Speaking on Good Evening Ghana, Haruna Iddrisu admitted that the Speaker deserves to be treated with respect and fairness, but disagreed that the relationship on the floor of Parliament was about a Professor-student relationship or anything like it. He said it was also about respect for the minority’s place in parliament at all times and the contributions they have to make in the law-making process.
“I have been watching the videos of Hon Kyei Mensah Bonsu, from Hackman through to Nana Akufo-Addo’s time and I watch the time and I expect Prof Ocquaye to respect that. Give me same right as minority leader… I’ve asked Kyei Mensah Bonsu whether that was how he was treated as a minority leaderâ€, the Minority Leader explained what triggered his flare-ups.
Don’t push me to disrespect you – Haruna ‘warns’ Speaker
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, threatened to disrespect the authority of the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye if his behaviour towards the Minority leadership does not change.
A verbal altercation began during the passage of the Special Petroleum Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2018 where Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak described the quantum of the decrease in fuel prices as fraudulent.
This brought in the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu who had strong words for the Speaker after being made to stand on his feet for a while without recognition.
What further infuriated Haruna Iddrisu was the fact that the Speaker rather called the Majority Leader for his contribution, even though he, Haruna Iddrisu, had been on his feet for several minutes.
primenewsghana.com/Ghana News