The Minority Caucus in Parliament staged a walkout on Tuesday following a disagreement with First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor over a request for the Minister for Communications to brief the House on the cost implications of the government’s proposed nationwide SIM card re-registration exercise.
Tensions flared in the chamber after the Minority objected to a ruling by the First Deputy Speaker on the matter, leading to heated exchanges between members of the caucus and the Chair.
The Minority had sought a briefing from the Communications Minister on the projected cost to the state of undertaking another nationwide SIM card registration exercise.
Unsatisfied with the Speaker’s ruling, members of the Minority staged a walkout in protest.
Addressing journalists after the incident, the caucus accused Mr. Ahiafor of adopting what they described as an intimidating posture towards Minority MPs, particularly those seated on the back benches of Parliament.
Led by the Minority Leader, the caucus expressed concern over what it said was a growing pattern of intolerance and called on the First Deputy Speaker to be more impartial, tolerant and accommodating in the discharge of his duties.
According to the Minority, maintaining fairness, decorum and mutual respect in parliamentary proceedings is essential to safeguarding Ghana’s democratic processes and ensuring effective parliamentary oversight.
“We have observed that the First Deputy Speaker has a way of using the rules to stampede parliamentary oversight,” he said.
“You’ve all observed that he started an attack on our backbenches. Any time our backbenchers had the opportunity to be on their feet, he would use the rules to frustrate them.”
