Impasse in Parliament:  Speaker adjourns House indefinitely again

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has once again adjourned the House indef­initely.

The adjournment of the extraordinary meeting was occasioned by what the Speaker said was the failure of the NPP Majority caucus to report to the plenary and lack of business to be transacted.

The meeting was in response to a request for a recall pursuant to article 112(3) of the Constitu­tion and Order 53 of the Stand­ing Orders of Parliament by 83 Members, all of the NPP Majority caucus.

When the Speaker walked into the chamber yesterday, the desig­nated side for the NDC minority caucus was empty.

The NDC minority caucus who said they are now in the Majority, following the declaration of four seats vacant by the Speaker, took the seats designated for the NPP Majority caucus.

After going through the pre-business formalities, Mr Bag­bin said the conditions were not rife for business.

“The signatories who made the request for the recall have not shown up and therefore, matters they wanted us to handle, which are admitted for the consideration of the business committee are not on the order paper. In fact, there is no order paper for today because the Business Committee could not meet due to the absence of the people who requested for the recall. We have as usual, a quorum to sit, but we have no business before us to transact.”

The Speaker added that “In view of the failure of the Busi­ness Committee to sit as a result of the refusal of those who re­quested for the recall to show up, we are compelled to once again adjourn the sitting of the House”.

He said taking into account recent developments in parliament in relation to its composition, adjourning the House sine die was the right way to go.

“Knowing the challenges we are facing, it is not advisable to be adjourning from day-to-day, so I’ll proceed once more to adjourn the meeting indefinitely. This extraor­dinary meeting is accordingly adjourned,” Mr Bagbin explained.

It is the second time the Speak­er adjourned the House indefi­nitely, following his declaration of four seats in Parliament vacant on October 17, 2024.

The adjournment puts on hold again government businesses that are before the House; the most pressing being the presentation of the budget for the first three months of the 2025 fiscal year.

 BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI