Ashaiman MP explains why he whisked away Speaker’s chair

Chaos erupts in parliament over decision

Parliament to reconvene tomorrow Thursday, December 2, 2021

Parliamentary sitting today Wednesday, December 1, 2021, turned chaotic as the sit-in speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, overruled a motion by the minority to have the approval of the 2022 budget statement reversed.

The minority caucus in parliament had earlier argued that the deputy speaker erred in counting himself as part of the MPs present for which a supposed quorum was formed and the budget statement passed.

They maintained that his role as acting speaker meant he had no casting vote and thus the NPP had not satisfied the number of MPs present to accept the budget.

The Bekwai MP in dismissing the motion and arguments of the minority caucus stated that there was a distinction between who a deputy speaker was and who a Speaker is.

He said, “any attempt to read and interpret the constitution of ‘Mr. Speaker’ to include the deputy speakers is a misreading and a misapplication of the constitution”.

“First it must be clear that a deputy speaker is not a Speaker. Indeed Article 96 (1) of the Constitution says and I quote ‘the shall be two deputy speakers who shall be elected by members of parliament from among members of parliament” he explained.

This led to chaos on the floor of parliament post the ruling, eventually leading to Ashaiman MP, Ernest Henry Norgbey whisking away the Speaker’s chair.

Commenting after the incident, the MP justified his actions stating that “we have to preserve the seat for Mr. Speaker to come”.

“I didn’t just take the Speaker’s chair. I did that on the notion and the ruling of the speaker [of Honourable Joe Osei Owusu] who is the deputy speaker. He said a deputy speaker is not a speaker so he’s not the Speaker. But I was of the view that if you are not the speaker, why then do you overturn the ruling of a Speaker. That is my point. And if you are not a speaker, why are you sitting in that chair? Then the best thing is that we have to preserve the seat for Mr Speaker to come. [I wasn’t going to attack him] That time he had left. I won’t have attacked him…nobody would have attacked anybody” he told Joy News’ parliamentary correspondent Kwesi Parker Wilson.

Meanwhile, parliament is expected to continue sitting tomorrow Thursday, December 2, 2021, with the minority vowing to challenge the ruling of the siti-in speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu.