Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has defended Parliament's decision to hold committee proceedings involving the Governor of the Bank of Ghana behind closed doors, insisting that the practice is consistent with the Standing Orders and long-established parliamentary convention.

Addressing the press on Thursday, July 15, Mr Ayariga also accused the Minority of prioritising political publicity over effective parliamentary oversight, following a walkout by Minority Members of Parliament over disagreements concerning public access to committee proceedings.

His comments come after Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin accused First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor of using parliamentary procedures to frustrate the Minority's constitutional oversight role.

The Minority staged the protest on Wednesday, 15 July, after the First Deputy Speaker ruled out a supplementary question Mr Afenyo-Markin sought to ask the Minister for Communications regarding the Government's planned SIM card re-registration exercise.

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The supplementary question sought clarification on procurement arrangements for the exercise, but Mr Ahiafor ruled that it was unrelated to the substantive question before the House and therefore inadmissible under Parliament's Standing Orders.

Although the protest centred on proceedings in the Chamber, Mr Ayariga said a separate disagreement concerning the appearance of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana before Parliament had also fuelled tensions between the Majority and Minority.

According to the Majority Leader, the disagreement related to whether every appearance by the Governor before Parliament must automatically be conducted as a public hearing.

Mr Ayariga explained that Parliament's revised Standing Orders allow the House to invite the Governor to appear before a Committee of the Whole rather than before Parliament sitting in plenary.

"The issue was whether every time the Governor of the Central Bank appears before Parliament, it has to be a public hearing," he said.

"We explained that the rules were changed so that the House can invite the Governor to appear not before the House in plenary, but before the House sitting as a Committee of the Whole. That is what the rules provide."

He said the Governor had appeared before the Committee of the Whole to respond to questions submitted by former Works and Housing Minister and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

According to Mr Ayariga, the Majority proposed that the proceedings should follow Parliament's long-standing practice of hearing independent constitutional office holders without media coverage.

"We said let us do what we do for all other independent constitutional bodies. We sit without the media because that is our practice," he stated.

However, he said the Minority objected, arguing that journalists should be allowed to cover the proceedings because Parliament had previously permitted media access when the Governor appeared to answer questions concerning the cost of the new Bank of Ghana headquarters.

"They argued that because we once allowed the media to attend when the Governor answered questions on the cost of the Bank of Ghana headquarters building, that should become the standard practice for all future appearances," Mr Ayariga explained.

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The Majority Leader rejected that interpretation, insisting that the Standing Orders clearly vest the authority to determine whether committee proceedings are held in public or in private in the committee itself.

Referring to Standing Order 266, he noted that committee proceedings are generally open to the public unless the committee decides otherwise.

"If you read Standing Order 266, it states that committee proceedings shall be held in public except where the committee determines otherwise," he said.

"I therefore asked them to convince the committee that it should sit in public. If you cannot persuade the committee to take that decision, you cannot compel it to hold its proceedings in public."

Mr Ayariga said the Minority chose to walk away rather than participate in the proceedings and question the Governor on issues relating to the country's economic and financial management.

He argued that had the Minority's primary objective been to scrutinise the management of Ghana's finances, its members would have remained in the meeting and taken advantage of the opportunity to question the Governor directly.

"If your genuine interest is to understand how the finances of this country are being managed, the person responsible is sitting before you. You can ask your questions, receive the answers and use that information in your parliamentary work and public engagements," he said.

The Majority Leader accused the Minority of abandoning meaningful scrutiny in favour of political theatre.

"Clearly, what the Minority has demonstrated is that they are not interested in the questions or the answers. They are interested in the media optics," he stated.

While the Minority has maintained that public hearings are essential to ensuring transparency and accountability, the Majority argues that Parliament's rules permit committees to decide whether proceedings should be conducted in public or in camera, depending on the circumstances.