By Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, has threatened to cite Chairmen of Parliamentary Select Committees with delayed reports for contempt.
The threat by the Speaker comes after the Chairman of the Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah and the Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. Kwabena Tahir Hammond on Monday, 18 December 2023 accused the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Kwaku Kwarteng of failing to consider and report to the plenary on tax waiver requests for factories under the One District One Factory Policy since the Speaker made a referral to the committee in 2021.
Recently, the Ranking Member on the Trade and Industry Committee, Yusif Sulemana revealed that there is currently over GHC5 billion request before the Finance Committee with an additional GHC7 billion likely to be presented by the government to Parliament for approval for cronies in the trade industry.
Reacting to the matter, Rt. Hon Bagbin, said the committee must report to the house for onward action.
“My attention was drawn to one of them some time ago, and I spoke to the chairman of the committee. If you have any concerns, report to the house. But we cannot refer matters to a committee, and the committee on its own decides that it will not report to the house, and that ends the matter. That is unacceptable.
We may in future be compelled to take contempt cases against some of your people, and as leaders you also know that they disqualify themselves from holding some positions. When you are chair of a committee, and you are not performing, the standing orders allow the leadership to recommend for replacement,” he warned.
