The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin, has indicated that Parliament would make a determination on Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s resignation from the Appointments Committee of Parliament soon.
Giving his open remarks after the House’s resumption from recess yesterday, Speaker Bagbin said the committee of Selection, which is handling the issue, would soon finalise its report and present it to the House.
The Speaker said his position as a Speaker makes it impossible for him to take a position on Mr Ablakwa’s resignation, a reason for the delay.
“Honourable members, I received a purported letter of resignation from the Member of Parliament for North Tongu just a few hours before Parliament went on recess. By the rules of the House, my acceptance of his resignation would have been ultra vires for my position and powers as a Speaker of Parliament.
It was, however, procedurally intra vires for my position as the Chairman for the Committee of Selection, acting for and on behalf of the committee.
“I accordingly received the letter on behalf of and for the consideration of the committee, which is duty bound to prepare, compose and present a report on the Standing and Select Committees of the House for your approval.
“Members of the Committee were recalled from recess to come and consider the resignation. The committee will soon finalise and present its report to the House for consideration. I will not pre-empt the outcomes of the committee’s meeting.”
The Resignation
It would be recalled that the North Tongu MP resigned from Parliament’s Appointments Committee few hours before Parliament went on recess in March.
In a letter dated March 30, addressed to the Speaker, Alban Kingsford Bagbin, he explained that this was “after days of careful reflection and thoughtful considerations.
“I shall like to state that the reasons for this difficult decision are both personal and on principle,” was all Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa wrote in his letter.
The former Deputy Education Minister said the Speaker must consider his resignation to take immediate effect and stressed that he would not be available for the vetting of President Akufo-Addo’s nominees for Deputy ministerial positions.
“May I extend to you leadership of the House, the Committee of Selection and the leadership of the great National Democratic Congress (NDC), my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to serve as a member of the 6th, 7th and 8th Parliaments of the Republic of Ghana,” he concluded.
Per the content of the letter, it was not clear why the outspoken member of the Committee, who is noted for taking nominees through rigorous CV scrutiny made that decision.
This made some of the members of the house to draw their own conclusions. Some said Mr Ablakwa resigned due to controversies in the approval of the Akufo-Addo ministerial nominees.
However, Mr Afenyo Markin indicated that whatever reason it may be, the decision to resign was in “bad taste”.
According to him, he was “surprised at the resignation because he thought Sammy is well experienced enough in this game of politics to know that we act as a collective.”
He was of the view that Mr Ablakwa’s decision will go a long way to affect his political ambitions.
“I see Sammy as having a future in his own party. Perhaps he may think he was doing what was right but what I can foresee is that he is creating a whole mountain of mistrust for his future in his party. Maybe he did not calculate [it] well but that is what I see because in Parliament we work as a team, we work in caucuses,” he concluded.
Other issues touched on by the Speaker
The Speaker also spoke about the voluminous work ahead of the House and urged Members to prepare themselves for it.
“This meeting promises to be very busy. The House is expected to consider and pass into law a number of important bills including; the Petroleum Revenue Management Amendment Bill 2021, the Supplementary Appropriation Bill 2020, the Exemptions Bill 2021 and a number of private members bills, whilst we await the presentation of the all important Affirmative Action Bill.
“Some international agreements, treaties and conventions also await the consideration of the House. I urge members to size up and prepare for hard work and long sitting hours.”
The Speaker also used the opportunity to touch on this year’s celebration of the African Union (AU) Day which was marked yesterday.
The Speaker indicated that since the theme for the celebration: ‘Art, Culture and Heritage: for building the Africa we want’ is meant for Africans to reflect on how they can leverage the infinite resources of creative art, culture and the vast heritage to drive development.
This also draws attention to how African countries can individually and collectively harness the treasures of creative art, culture and heritage to promote and develop the country.
The Speaker said he was hopeful that Ghana will take the opportunity created by the theme to showcase her culture and heritage to the world.
On Covid-19, the Speaker said that the pandemic is continuously devastating most countries in the world and Ghana is also not out of the woods yet, hence everybody should endeavour to take the AstraZeneca vaccine and observe the protocols religiously.
The post Parliament to make a determination on Ablakwa’s resignation appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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