Tolon MP and Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Habib Iddrisu, says he was “very, very surprised” by Speaker Alban Bagbin’s decision not to admit the Minority’s motion seeking the recall of Parliament.

The motion formed part of the Minority’s push for Parliament to reconvene to address concerns over Ghana becoming a drug transit hub.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Iddrisu said he was convinced the Speaker would admit the motion.

“Yes, I was very, very surprised that the motion was rejected or was not admitted by the Speaker. Because I was very convinced that the Speaker was going to admit the motion, but he didn’t,” he said.

Mr Iddrisu said the contents of the motion were not different from the reasons outlined in the memorandum he submitted for Parliament to be recalled.

“In the first place, the motion was not different from the reference in the memorandum that actually seeks for Parliament to be recalled,” he said.

He explained that the motion contained “exactly the text that I put in the memo for the parliament to be recalled.”

According to him, this meant the Speaker already had information about the reasons behind the Minority’s request for the recall.

“So the Speaker had prior knowledge or information for the reason for a recall. So he recalled Parliament anyway,” Mr Iddrisu said.

He therefore said he had no reason to expect that the motion would subsequently be rejected.

“So there was no way I could think that the Speaker would not admit the motion because the motion was exactly what I put on the memorandum for the recall,” he said.

Mr Iddrisu, however, acknowledged the Speaker’s authority to decide whether a motion should be admitted.

“But he is the Speaker of the House. The right to admit motions or otherwise lies on his bosom,” he said.

He added that the Standing Orders also placed that responsibility with the Speaker.

“And what our standing order says is that he’s the right person to be able to have admitted the motion, and he decided not to admit the motion. Even though he has given some reasons,” Mr Iddrisu said.