Advertisement

First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu
First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu

Speaker refers Minority MPs’ behaviour to Privileges Committee

Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Minority side who displayed placards during the swearing-in of the MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassan, last Tuesday are to face the Privileges Committee of Parliament for their behaviour.

The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, who gave the ruling yesterday, directed the Clerk of Parliament to go for the tapes or video recordings of the day's proceedings to identify the MPs involved in the display of placards with the inscription "Bloody Widow" directed at Madam Alhassan for them to be referred to the Privileges Committee.

Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Minority side who displayed placards during the swearing-in of the MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Madam Lydia Seyram Alhassa

After a debate on the raising of the placards, which followed an application by the First Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Mr Mathew Nyindam, for the Minority side to be made to apologise for that act, Mr Osei-Owusu ruled that the Minority leadership should apologise on behalf of their members.

But that ruling was rejected by the Minority side, led by the Deputy Minority Leader, Mr James Avedzi, and the Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka.

The two leaders said the Standing Orders of Parliament did not indicate that the leaders should apologise for the conduct of their members.

Speaker’s ruling

The Deputy Majority Leader, Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, then stood on a point of order and intimated that once the Speaker had given his ruling, the Minority side did not have any option but to comply per the Standing Orders.

She said the Minority side could only challenge the ruling by filing a substantive motion.

Supporting her position, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Suhum, Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah, said granted that the Speaker's ruling was not captured in the Standing Orders, Order Six of the Standing Orders allowed the Speaker to use his discretion to give a ruling.

Responding, Alhaji Muntaka said the Minority members could not comply with the ruling and that they would challenge it by a substantive motion.

"You (Mr Speaker) made a ruling. We cannot comply with it and we will challenge it by a substantive motion", he said.

There was heckling in the house, and Mr Osei-Owusu asked the Marshall to walk out the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Tamale North, Mr Suhuyini Alhassan Sayibu, from the chamber for shouting on top of his voice.

Debate

During the debate, the Majority side led by Ms Safo said the display of the 'Bloody Widow' placards was an attack on widowhood and women.

Besides, the Majority side said the act was an affront to the dignity of Parliament as the Standing Orders frowned upon the denigration of the image of an MP.

But the Minority MPs,led by Mr Avedzi, said the Minority MPs were not referring to Madam Alhassan but rather the violence that characterised the by-election.

The Minority MPs argued that even if the claim of assault on the character of Madam Alhassan was true, at the time that some of them held the placards, she was not yet sworn-in as MP.

Alhaji Muntaka spoke on a conciliatory tone indicating that, the display of cards was not captured in the Standing Orders, which allowed MPs to display all sorts of unwarranted messages.

He called for a concerted effort between the Majority and Minority sides to outlaw the use of placards by MPs in the Chamber of Parliament.

Earlier, the Majority Women Caucus in Parliament held a press conference and condemned the Minority side for assaulting the character of a widow, by displaying the placards.

Minority MPs march to the Police Headquarters after they had walked out of the Chamber during the swearing-in of Ms Lydia Seyram Alhassan last Tuesday

Recall

The Minority in Parliament last Tuesday boycotted the swearing in of Madam Alhassan, in order not to give credence or legitimacy to her election and subsequent swearing-in.

Dressed in black and red attires, the Minority MPs held placards in the House with the inscription "Bloody Widow" to demonstrate their description of her election as bloody.

Immediately after the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, had read a communique' from the Electoral Commission (EC) informing the house of the election of Madam Alhassan and that, she was being ushered in to the chamber to be sworn-in, Alhaji Muntaka indicated that the Minority members could not participate in the swearing-in because her election was characterised by violence.

But the swearing-in went on as Ms Safo contended that, Parliament was following due process as Madam Alhassan was duly elected and the results of the election were communicated to Parliament by the EC.

Immediately after the walk-out, the Minority MPs led by Alhaji Muntaka matched to the Ghana Police Service Headquarters to show solidarity to their colleague NDC MP for Ningo-Prampram, Mr Samuel Nartey George, to lodge a complaint for the alleged assault on him during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election held on January 31, 2019.

Madam Alhassan, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) candidate who won the by-election, replaces the late NPP MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Mr Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko.

The conduct of the polls was marred by a shooting incident at the residence of one of the aspirants, Mr Kwasi Delali Brempong, the NDC candidate, which resulted in injuries to 18 peOPLEand an assault on an observer at one of the polling stations.

At the La Bawaleshie School Park, Mr George, who was observing the elections, was allegedly assaulted by some unidentified persons.

The incident also resulted in the NDC directing their agents to withdraw from the various polling stations.

Fact Sheet

Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Minority side are to face the Privileges Committee of Parliament for displaying "Bloody Widow" placards.

The controversy surrounding the UNIPASS National Single Window is far from over, with West Blue Ghana Limited, an IT solution firm, suing the operators of the system for allegedly pirating its software for the project.

The suit, filed at the Commercial Division of the Accra High Court, is against Ghana Link Network Services Limited, Customs UNI-PASS International Agency of Korea (CUPIA, Korea) and Work Smart Limited.

West Blue is seeking an order from the court to restrain the three companies, their directors, agents or anyone acting in their names from using its software as part of the UNIPASS system.

It also wants the court to award damages against the defendants for infringing its copyright by cloning its software without authorisation.

The suit comes barely two months after the Economic Management Team (EMT), headed by the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, directed the suspension of the UNI-PASS port clearing system which was scheduled to commence on January 1, 2019.

In the statement, the EMT tasked CUPIA of Korea and Ghana Link Network Services to provide a demonstration that they had developed a "full end-to-end Customs Technology Solutions Systems, successfully tested, with an independent stress report, and provide a comprehensive implementation plan to the EMT by the end of January 2019".

Background

On August 4, 2015, West Blue entered into an agreement with the government to provide a single window government as part of efforts to integrate the systems of service providers at the country’s ports and facilitate the clearing of goods without voluminous paperwork, while reducing transactional time.

The contract was to expire in 2020 after which West Blue would hand over the system to the government of Ghana.

However, in March 2018, the Ministry of Trade signed a 10-year sole-sourced contract with Ghana Link Network Services Limited and its overseas partner, CUPIA Korea Customs Service, to oversee the implementation of the National Single Window Project, including the paperless system, at the ports.

Ghana Link, with its overseas partners CUPIA Korea Customs Service, will provide the trade facilitation and Customs Management System at a 0.75 per cent fee (FOB) per their contract with the Ministry of Trade.

This figure is higher than what the existing vendors, West Blue and GCNet, are currently receiving as a fee.

West Blue Consulting currently earns 0.28 per cent, while GCNet earns 0.4 per cent. So, the two existing vendors providing single window operations in Ghana together are taking 0.68 per cent which is below what UNIPASS is going to take (0.75 per cent).

Why West Blue went to court

In its statement of claim accompanying its writ, West Blue said Ghana Link, in July 2018, copied its Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS) and Risk Management System, which were modules of its original Ghana Single Operating system.

The IT firm also said the features, designs and operations of the UNIPASS system were the same as its existing system.

“The social media link on the supposed new system redirects to West Blue’s social media handles,’’ it said.

According to West Blue, stakeholders at the country’s ports became aware that the UNIPASS system was a cloned form of its system after a demonstration was done at the port West Blue also said it became aware that Ghana Link had copied its application because the UNIPASS system could not be ready by January 1, 2019, which was the deadline for the takeover, so the piracy of its system was to help Ghana Link meet the deadline until its own system was ready.

Writer's email:[email protected]

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |