Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has expressed discontent with the habit of First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu (Joe Wise), to overturn his decisions anytime he acts as Speaker temporarily.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, Mr Bagbin said the Bekwai MP was acting “unconstitutional, illegal and offensive,” any time he overrules his previous decisions.
The sharp comments by the Speaker follows the rejection of a Minority motion on the expenditure of COVID-19 funds by the First Deputy Speaker on Monday.
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The motion filed by the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson prayed the House for an investigation into the expenditures made by the Ghana government, concerning the COVID-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
But in throwing out the motion, Mr Osei-Owusu ruled that the Speaker, Alban Bagbin should not have admitted the motion as everything related to the motion falls under the ambit of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which is a bi-partisan committee.
“…the matters that were called upon to set up a committee to investigate did not come under any of the select or standing committees of the house. In my view it falls squarely in the PAC, and indeed all the committees of the house including PAC are bi-partisan and PAC is designed to be chaired by the minority so, in all its folds and questions related to the PAC, if it is minded to investigate anything related to the COVID expenditure, it fully sits with the authority and the power to investigate that, particularly because all the accounting for it has been provided for in the budget which budget has been presented before the house and it is before the committee.”
“My view is that this motion ought not to be admitted as is improperly before the house,” the Bekwai MP said moments before throwing out the motion.
This is not the first time Mr Osei-Owusu has overturned a decision of the substantive Speaker.
In December, he overruled a decision to reject the 2022 motion after Minority MPs voted against the budget following a walkout by the Majority.
A livid Bagbin who presided over proceedings of Wednesday, February 23, 2022, said “the penchant of the First Deputy Speaker overruling my decisions is unconstitutional, illegal and offensive.”