The Minority in Parliament has declared it will explore other available options to bring the investigation into Ghana’s recent cocaine menace back to the front burner after Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin rejected its motion for a parliamentary inquiry. Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin made the declaration at a press briefing, saying the caucus will not allow the matter to be buried.
“We will not let this matter rest. Never,” Afenyo-Markin said, moments after the Speaker’s ruling. He said the Minority would exercise options within the Constitution and Parliament’s Standing Orders to ensure the narcotics issue, which has gained notoriety as a transit point for drugs, returns to the top of the national agenda.
The Speaker had rejected the Minority’s motion seeking a parliamentary investigation into the cocaine menace. The Minority described the ruling as unfortunate and argued that it failed the integrity tests required of Parliament to discharge its oversight duties.
Afenyo-Markin said the Speaker did not explain how the matters fell outside Parliament’s constitutional jurisdiction to inquire into the conduct, administration and effectiveness of public institutions involved. He maintained that the motion was about institutional oversight, not about determining criminal liability or pronouncing on the guilt or innocence of any accused person.
The Minority Leader said the caucus remains convinced that Parliament can conduct an inquiry without prejudicing pending criminal proceedings, and that the Speaker’s ruling should not operate as a complete bar to parliamentary oversight over public institutions and systems implicated in the narcotics cases.
He stressed that democracy requires a strong Parliament, and a strong Parliament requires an effective Minority. According to him, a supermajority must never become an excuse to weaken the Minority, silence scrutiny or diminish Parliament’s duty to oversight.
Afenyo-Markin said the Minority will do what it has to do and, at the right time, brief the people of Ghana, insisting that it acts in the national interest and for the good of democracy. He also accused the Majority of not being interested in scrutiny, saying: “All of a sudden, the 24-hour economy is turning to 24-hour cocaine.”
EcowasNewsOnline.com
