The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has warned that any minister, deputy minister or relevant government official who fails to appear before Parliament to answer questions or treats an appearance before the House lightly will be cited for contempt of Parliament.
He said failing to appear before the House and any related behaviour were tantamount to impeding the work of Parliament and constituted contempt of the House.
Mr Adjaho issued the warning when a Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Vincent Oppong-Asamoah, appeared before the House to answer questions on behalf of the sector minister but failed to provide the answers to the questions filed by a member.
The Member for Offinso North, Mr Collins Ntim, had sought to know from the sector minister what measures had been put in place to ensure the repairs of the Tanoso Waterworks, which broke down as a result of a vehicular accident.
Nkenkanso water
Another question said to have been filed at the ministry about eight weeks ago sought answers on what had been done to replace the overhead water reservoir at Nkenkanso in the Offinso North District in the Ashanti Region which broke down about a year ago.
Mr Oppong-Asamoah, who stood in the stead of Alhaji Collins Dauda, who is said to have travelled outside the country, however, did not have answers to the questions.
When pressure was mounted on him, he came out with an alibi that the technocrats at the ministry had not provided the answers that he needed for onward submission to Parliament.
That answer drew the ire of members, particularly those on the Minority side, who wondered how answers could not be provided to questions filed long before the House went on the last recess.
Some members were of the view that some ministers, deputy ministers and other government agents had taken the work of Parliament lightly and hence did not accord the House the needed respect.
