Oquaye turns down Minority’s request to summon Housing Minister, others over floods
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye has turned down a request by the Minority for some three Ministers to be hauled before the House to answer questions regarding the recent floods in the country.
Quoting from Standing Order 72, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu asked the Speaker to summon the Minister of Finance, Works and Housing Minister as well as the Roads and Highways Minister so they could question them on measures put in place to avert the impact of the floods.
“Mr. Speaker, I’m making a statement briefly on a matter of urgent public importance concerning the floods that occurred few days that resulted in some casualties and some loss of lives. Repeatedly, we have heard Ministers giving assurance to Ghanaians yet Mr. Speaker, day in and day out, Ghanaians are agonizing as a result of our inability as a government…”
“So I’m requesting that the Minsters for Works and Housing, Roads and Highways, and Finance be hauled urgently before this House to assure the people of Ghana what steps they are taking to avert the future occurrence of the floods to save lives and to avert the needless loss of lives arising out of this,” the Minority Leader said.
But the Speaker disallowed the motion, saying the Minority had gone against an initial agreement by the leadership of the House on the issue in question.
Background on recent floods
Various communities in the country have experienced flooding and other casualties, following heavy rains for the past few weeks.
The most recent in the Greater Accra Region has to do with the Tema Motorway flooding on Monday, where commuters were left stranded, with cars damaged and unable to move, causing intense vehicular traffic.
In the Upper East Region alone, over 26,000 people are reported to have been displaced with about 19 people injured.
More than 20 people have also died as a result of flooding-related incidents including drowning and electrocution.
About 11 people, according to the National Disaster Management Organisation, had also died in the Ashanti Region through flood-related incidents within two months.
In the Central Region, lectures were called off today, Wednesday following flooding on campus.