Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin says the First Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei Owusu 'might have' indulged in misconduct tantamount to insubordination in his absence.
The Speaker said this in reaction to the decision of the First Deputy Speaker to preside over proceedings to overturn his earlier ruling rejecting the 2022 budget statement.
During proceedings in Parliament on Thursday, December 16, he said “Who am I to say my deputy, the First Deputy Speaker, the Honorable member for Bekwai Constituency, Honorable Joseph Osei Owusu, Joewise, he might have indulged in an act of misconduct tantamount to insubordination?”
According to him, for reasons of precedence, while citing some standing orders of the House, he said in the absence of the Speaker the Deputy can not preside over a House to overturn his decision and vice versa.
He explained that when the Deputy Speaker is informed by the Clerk of the absence of the Speaker and he is presiding over the House he can not be counted when forming a quorum. He said the action of the Deputy Speaker caused procedurial challenges.
Parliament has on Tuesday, November 30, approved the 2022 budget statement after the House had approved it.
The First Deputy Speaker who sat in for the Speaker said on Tuesday that “The House has adopted the Financial statement and approved the budget statement for the ensuing year ending 31st December 2021.”
“This house has approved the budget and economic statement,” he stressed.
The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu had asked him to set aside the purported rejection of the 2022 budget statement.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said on the floor of the House on Tuesday November 30 that the rejection of the budget “did not meet the test established under Article 104,” because Parliament did not have the required numbers to be present in the chamber for purposes of taking decisions.
The minority boycotted the sitting.