Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has ordered the Minister for Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Atta to immediately withdraw a press release calling for the cessation of collection of road tolls last night after the presentation of the 2022 budget.
The order follows a statement by Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu calling the attention of the House to the development.
The Tamale South MP in his statement on the floor accused the Minister of usurping the powers of the Parliament whose enactment birthed the tolls.
The move according to Haruna amounts to disrespect of the legislature
MP for Abuakwa North Samuel Atta Akyea in his contribution dismissed the claim of disrespect of Parliament. According to him the action of the minister can at worst be described as an administrative error
But MP for Banda and Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim disagreed. According to him, the Minister should focus on fixing portholes instead of suspending road tolls
Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu though admits the Minister erred, argued the move was for the public good. According to the Suame MP, the announcement of scrapping of road tolls by the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in his budget presentation resulted in spontaneous commotion at various toll booths thus the directive from the Roads Minister to avert any escalation.
Speaker Bagbin consequently directed the Minister to withdraw the press statement since parliament has not yet approved the 2022 budget for any measures in there to take effect
The Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was not enthused about the directive. He called out the speaker who took his time to reinforce his directive cautioning the Roads Minister will be cited for contempt of Parliament in he fails to comply.
“I think that it is proper for us to direct the minister, a member of this house, in fact, a senior member of this house, I think that he might have acted wrongly and therefore I call him to reverse this decision,” he ruled.
Source: Kasapafmonline.com
