Ministers must avail themselves to the House

Member of Parliament for the Banda constituncy within the Bono Region could not understand why Ministers would disregard the authority of Parliament by turning down its invite.

Ministers must avail themselves to the House

Member of Parliament for Banda constituency within the Northern Region, Honourable Ahmed Ibraham has expressed worry over what he termed the lackadaisical attitude of Ministers in responding to invite of House to answer questions.

This attitude, he said impugns the authority of parliament and should it be allowed to persist, would render the House powerless. His statement follows the failure of the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to honor the invitation of the House by the Speaker.

It will be recalled that on June 1, 2022, the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Honorable Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin summoned the Finance Minister to the House to render an account on the covid funds which call was yet to be responded to by the Minister.

In that regard, the Banda MP could not understand why the Minister was disrespecting the authority of the House. But responding to Banda MP's comment, Majority Whip and MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Honourable Annoh Dompreh explained that the Finance Minister was present in the House last Friday, June 3, 2022, on which day Parliament did not sit.

The response was inconsequential to the beliefs of the Banda MP, stating that the Minister would have duly been informed that parliament was not sitting that day. He admonished ministers to as a matter of principle accord the House with the needed respect. "We must all respect the authority of Parliament by responding to invite", he admonished. He, therefore, urged Ministers to accord the needed respect to Parliament.

The MP was unhappy at the manner some Ministers treat Parliament and cautioned Members of Parliament not to denigrate the authority of Parliament in such a manner that would appear to be powerless.

Report by Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor