The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has questioned the decision by the First Deputy Speaker to dismiss a motion that was seeking to investigate Covid expenditure.
The First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu (Joewise) in his ruling on Tuesday February 22 said “All the committees of the house including the Public Accounts Committee are bipartisan, and the Public Accounts Committee is designed by nature to be chaired by members of the Minority.
“In all its form, the Public Accounts Committee, if it is minded to investigate anything related to the Covid-19 expenditure, fully sees to the authority and power to investigate that, particularly because all the accounting of it has been provided for in the budget which budget has been provided by the House and is before the committee.
“My view is that this motion ought not to have been admitted, and it’s improperly before the House.”
Reacting to the Speaker’s ruling, Haruna Iddrisu said “The precedent that is being set is a worrying for the future of our parliament and I worry for the future of any parliamentary committee tomorrow, that will be under Article 133(3) of the 1992 Constitution to enquire into any matter of public interest.”
The motion was moved by ranking member on the Finance Committee Casiel Ato Forson.
He prayed the house to constitute a bi-partisan parliamentary committee chaired by a member of the minority caucus to probe the expenditures made by Ghana Government in relation to Covid-19 since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
