Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has criticised the Majority in Parliament for conducting government business without approval.
According to him, Ghana is not a business that can be owned and controlled by an individual.
He refuted claims by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) that the Minority in Parliament is harassing foreign entities intending to do business with the country.
Speaking on Top Story on Wednesday, June 5, Mr Dafeamekpor said, “The country is not a sole proprietorship. Even as a sole proprietorship, you have to govern it in accordance with the appropriate arrangements.”
He asserted that the ruling government often bypasses cabinet discussions and relies solely on executive approval, ignoring the need for parliamentary approval.
“It’s something we must critically look at. A lot of the things this government has done is by executive approval but we are insisting that this one, it has to comply with Section 33 in consonance with Article 181 of the Constitution,” he said on Joy FM.
His comments come after the Majority expressed discontent with the Minority’s demands for parliamentary approval of every government transaction.
According to the majority caucus, this is petty and deters potential investors from the country’s economy.
The Minority has recently criticised the government for unilaterally signing various contracts, including the recent 5G service deal with NextGen InfranCo.
The NDC MPs argue that some of these sole-sourced deals must be subjected to parliamentary approval.
However, the Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, disagreed, saying, “It is important to remind our colleagues that they ought not to make Parliament a busybody nosing for things that are not part of its mandate. Our job as Parliament is provided for in the Constitution, and I urge our friends in the NDC to act accordingly.”
On the back of this, the South Dayi MP said that the Minority caucus will not allow such transactions to proceed without parliamentary approval, noting that the NDC caucus will continue to ensure the government respects the laws of the country.
“Nobody has gone to court to frustrate government business than these people when they were in opposition. So when they are in government now and we are checkmating every single transaction they conduct in breach of our laws, I think the proper thing to do is they comply with the law,” Mr Defeamekpor added.
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