Parliament fails to sit due to Liberian Peace talks
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 June 2003 - The Majority Leader and
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Felix Owusu-Agyapong on Wednesday said the
inability of Parliament to sit on Wednesday 4 June was in solidarity and
support to the President's call to the Legislature to lend their support to the
Liberian Peace Initiatives.
He the Committee of the Whole met on Tuesday to consider the
President's invitation to members of the Legislature to attend the Liberian
peace talks and due to the late take off of the meeting the House could not
meet to conduct its normal business in the House but members were enjoined to
attend committee meetings.
Owusu-Adjapong said this when he met members of the
Parliamentary Press Corps to explain to them the reasons why Parliament could
not sit for the day.
He said: " I believe the sittings of Parliament was
important but when you have your neighbours agreeing to seek peace on your soil
then it was necessary that all, including the second estate lend their support
to such peace initiatives".
Owusu-Agyapong said certain unforeseen circumstances
necessitated the delay of the meeting but since Parliament's Standing Orders
require that the House between 10 to 2p.m as its normal time it was felt proper
to allow members to attend to committee meetings.
The majority Leader said since Parliament attaches great
importance to peaceful co-existence in the country and her neighbouring
countries, the sittings of parliament was worth sacrificing to achieve peace in
the sub-continent.
Abraham Ossei Aidoo, Deputy Majority Leader said 5 June was
expected to be a much hectic and busy day for members since Wednesday's Public
Business was to be continued in addition to the next day's public business.
Mrs Comfort Owusu, Deputy Minority leader said the inability
of the House to sit was not a big deal since it was because some of the Heads
of Governments arrived late and that created a delay for the meeting.
She said as legislatures they have to play their expected
role but when it was later realised that the number of members at the House
would not form a quorum for normal business to be conducted it was felt that
they rather attend to committee meetings and that no side should therefore, be
blamed for the inability of the House to sit for the day.
Mrs Owusu said the conference went well and there were signs
of amicable settlement of differences between the warring parties for peaceful
co-existence.
The House was to ask a number of questions to be answered by
the Ministers of Information and Local Government and Rural Development and
there was to be Committee sittings.
A Motion for the adoption of the report of the Joint
Committee on Finance and Health on the Loan Agreement between the Republic
of Ghana and the African Development Bank and the Nordic Development Fund for
an amount of 23,342,120 Us dollars and 8.3million Euros for the co-financing of
the Health Services Rehabilitation Project Three was to be moved.
GRi…/
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