Parliament summoned to sit on 5th January over expatriate "extortion"

The Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Aaron Ocuaye has summoned parliament to sit on Friday 5th January 2018 at 12 O'clock noon.

This follows a request by the Minority to the Speaker for parliament to be recalled to consider the setting up on a committee of enquiry into circumstances surrounding the payment of some monies by expatriates at the Ghana Expatriate Awards.

The Minority is accusing the Trade Ministry of extorting as much as $100,000 for the privilege of sitting next to the President during the awards.

Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu criticized the recall, describing it as an abuse of parliamentary processes. 

According to him, although the Minority has that constitutional right, the extortion claims at the recently held Ghana Expatriate Business Awards does not necessitate an emergency recall.

“We go on recess and the first working day after we proceed on recess they are summoning parliament. It will seem to me that that clearly is an abuse of processes of parliament. However, it’s their constitutional charge if they want to apply themselves to it.” he said.

Nonetheless, the Speaker was left with little choice because the memo from the Minority was signed by enough MPs to constitute 15 percent of the house.

Read also: Full Statement: Trade Ministry again tries to clarify issues on $100k payment