Majority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh has defended the continuous absence of some of his NPP colleagues from sittings.

This follows criticisms by the NPP Majority after the Minority caucus announced a decision to shun parliamentary sittings.

Despite the NDC Minority's boycott of the House, the NPP side has not been able to marshall all its numbers to be able to move ahead with government business, leaving the House handicapped.

But defending this development, Frank Annoh-Dompreh said there is no Parliament in the world where all MPs come to the floor at a time.

“If you go to the British parliament and in other jurisdictions that we are trying to emulate you don’t see all the Members of Parliament in the chamber at a point in time. I don’t know if you can cite an instance like that unless maybe the ceremonial occasions where you find a full house.

“I am proud to say, and I will say this on behalf of the Majority that all the things we want to pass, we have passed them and important decisions cannot be made without our numbers but anytime we had to pass stuff we got the numbers and had our members marshalled."

The MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri explained that a number of his colleagues, especially the Ministers are on official duties whilst some are on sick leave, hence the low numbers on the side of the Majority.

“There are Ministers who are also Members of Parliament and we have to be practical here. Sometimes we have somebody who has travelled out of the jurisdiction and there is nothing you can do about it and if I pick my data now and you look at the leave of absence that I have, I have a lot. Many more members are on leave of absence, some on medical grounds and some on official duties."

He, however, chastised the Minority for boycotting proceedings in the house while still attending committee meetings.

"Your side is empty and you are saying that you are boycotting Parliament. The substance of my case here is that Ato Forson said, you are going to boycott Parliament.

"Is committee meetings not part of parliament? So who are you deceiving? Ato Forson should be clear on this matter. I think they should bow their heads down in shame. This is a very unpopular decision by the leadership. I know their side is divided about it so if you want to boycott Parliament, boycott Parliament in its entirety, don’t pick and choose."

Background

On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Minority again boycotted parliamentary sitting to solidarise with their colleague, Mr James Gyakye Quayson, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin North, who is standing trial in court. 

The boycott was to enable the Minority Caucus to accompany him to the court. 

The Minority Caucus two weeks ago informed the Speaker of Parliament that they would not be attending the business of the House on days that their trio colleagues, standing trials were to appear in Court. 

The trio include Mr James Gyakye Quayson, the MP for Assin North; Mr Collins Dauda, the MP for Asutifi South and Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, the Minority Leader and MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam.