Not even a class one pupil will behave like that – Sammy Gyamfi shreds sit-in Speaker Joe Wise

Joe Wise presided over controversial budget approval

Minority put in application to overturn budget approval

Sammy Gyamfi says Joseph Osei-Owusu’s behaviour shameful

The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress has taken the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, to the cleaners, describing his actions on November 30, 2021, as something not even a Class One pupil would do.

On that day, the House overturned the Friday, November 26, 2021, rejection of the budget, going on to approve it with only members of the Majority in the Chamber, with the sit-in Speaker counting himself as the 138th member.

This allowed for the House to form a quorum and for which reason they were able to vote for the approval of the 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy.

On December 1, 2021, when the Minority MPs returned to the Chamber and attempted to move an application for the overturning of that decision from the day before, things did not go as planned, throwing the House into chaotic scenes.

In the long run, the Bekwai MP and sit-in Speaker rejected their application, even after all the constitutional arguments presented by MPs against his decision to accept the approval of the budget.

Reacting to this while speaking on Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, and monitored by GhanaWeb, Sammy Gyamfi, without mincing words, said this was a shame and something not even a first-year pupil would do.

He also argued that based on the Standing Orders of Parliament, the House did not form a quorum.

“Yes, they had 138 members in parliament on that day but one of them was in the seat as Presiding Speaker – the honourable member for Bekwai, meaning that the number of MPs who were present in the Chamber were 137. They didn’t have 138 and so they could not have rescinded the decision parliament took on that Friday,” he said.

Sammy Gyamfi further described the conduct of Joseph Osei-Owusu as shameful.

“His conduct was shameful. Not even a Class One pupil would do this. Anybody who has read the Standing Orders of Parliament will know that when a motion is moved on the floor, the Speaker has the right to admit the motion. If it is admitted, it is seconded, debated, the Speaker cannot rule – he has to put it to a vote and announce his verdict on the vote,” he said.

The House is currently adjourned till Tuesday, December 7, 2021, after MPs travelled to their respective constituencies to join in the national celebration of farmers on National Farmers’ Day.

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