The Chairman of the Health Committee of Parliament, Dr. Ayew Afriyie, has accused the minority NDC in Parliament of undermining the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin following their sudden posture on the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines.
According to him, the minority should acknowledge that if for nothing at all the Speaker of Parliament is one of their own and it will be an exercise in bad faith if they lose confidence in him.
“It has been exactly two weeks that the minority made these allegations about the procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines and they are now running to the public and playing to the gallery.”
He was reacting to the Minority’s press conference on Thursday in an exclusive interview.
Dr. Ayew continued “this is surprising because they have everything available to them. We have channels in Parliament where questions, motions, and statements can get to the Speaker for him to give room for their inquiries. It is sad that the minority have ignored simple procedures to resolving queries in Parliament,” Dr. Ayew Afriyie lamented.
Dr. Ayew added “If you want Parliamentary Inquiry, where do you go to? You say it to Parliament for the Speaker to move a motion, you don’t run to the public through the media. It was the NDC that proposed the Speaker for the House to elect, so why are they trying to undermine the confidence in the Speaker? The NDC Minority undermining the Speaker’s authority is becoming more of a trend.”
He further explained that you can only run to the public at a time when your motion or submissions have been ignored by the Speaker on the Floor of Parliament.
“Under this circumstance, you can court support from the public to checkmate the Speaker and also where the Speaker does not come from your party. You have a Speaker who is always there for you and you can have everything you want and you are not using it,” he said.
The minority on Thursday called for an urgent bi-partisan parliamentary probe into Ghana’s procurement of Sputnik-V vaccines.
According to the minority, the probe should be undertaken by a third party to further investigate the propriety of the agreement between Ghana and Frontiers Healthcare for COVID-19 testing at the Kotoko Airport International Airport.
