The letter from the Presidency to Parliament regarding the anti-gay bill, according to Samuel Atta Kyea, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, does not violate the Constitution.
The confirmation of state ministers and deputy ministers nominated by President Akufo-Addo was put on hold on Wednesday by Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin.
The Speaker took this action in response to a directive from the Presidency, which prevented the House from sending the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values bill to Parliament for President Akufo-Addo’s approval. The Presidency delivered a cease-and-desist letter to Parliament.
The House Majority Caucus has expressed disapproval of the decision.
In an interview with Citi News, Samuel Atta Kyea stated that the Minority’s tit-for-tat mentality had to end.
“I will not say that there is a pattern from the president’s end to, sort of, frustrate the processes of assenting to bills. Even if he does that, you can bring it to his attention. We should not say, and I am not saying, that is the state of affairs.”
“If the president is doing something which is unconstitutional, there are processes to bring the president to order. But to lower the standards of governance to say, oh, let’s do a tit-for-tat, let’s ensure that we frustrate his work because we sent some bills to him, and he doesn’t want to assent to those bills, I don’t believe that is the way to go.”
The Speaker of Parliament elucidated that the reason for his move was an interlocutory injunction that Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor, the MP for South Dayi, filed before the Supreme Court. This order prevented Parliament from approving the nominations of new ministers made by President Akufo-Addo.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Joseph Asare
