Speaker of Parliament Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has descended heavily on the leaders of both sides of the House for happenings in House on Thursday, June 17.
On Thursday, a question from North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa on the cost of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s recent foreign travels was conspicuously missing from the order paper despite its advertisement the previous day.
No explanation was given to Mr Ablakwa, who is the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, was expected to be in the House to provide members with the breakdown of the travel, which took the president to France, Belgium and South Africa in a rented aeroplane.
But sit-in Speaker on Thursday, Andrew Amoako Asiamah, who is also the Second Deputy Speaker, was told by the Minority Leader that the question had been rescheduled.
Speaker Bagbin on Friday expressed unhappiness about the whole incident, blaming it on the absence of leadership of the two sides from pre-sitting meetings.
“I might be very good at the practice and procedure but sometimes you have to be fair to the guidance of leadership and so please this is leadership. Take advantage of the pre-sitting meetings and let the Speaker know about what is happening.
“I don’t want what happened [on Thursday] to be repeated again and when I am applying my rules, I don’t want to hear objections.”