Speaker yet to be allocated official vehicle
Arku Jasmine
Politics
The Office of Parliament has explained that no vehicle has been parked at the residence of the Speaker as part of his conditions of service.
In a release in reaction to an article published in an Accra newspaper,under the headline, “Greedy Speaker”, the Office of Parliament stated that “the vehicles are part of a convoy of vehicles and not for the Speaker’s personal use".
The release, signed by the Deputy Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Ms Kate Addo, said the story in essence accused the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, of commandeering vehicles meant for distribution to the Deputy Majority and Minority leaders.
"The Office of Parliament wishes to state that the facts of the story are erroneous, mischievous and malicious," it said.
It said even though the paper sought to seek clarification on the issue from the Office of Parliament and was told that the facts of the story, as the paper had it, were wrong, it still went ahead to publish its original story.
"The Office of Parliament would like to place on record that contrary to the report, the Speaker is yet to be allocated an official vehicle in his capacity as Speaker," it said.
The release explained that the BMW saloon car mentioned in the story was acquired when Mr Adjaho was serving as the First Deputy Speaker in the Fifth Parliament and was in fact bought as a second-hand vehicle, together with the one used by the then Second Deputy Speaker, Professor Mike Oquaye.
"The Speaker, being conscious of the exigencies of our current times, has sought to cut back on expenditure and this has been evidenced by his declining to engage in certain endeavours that will incur cost to Parliament and, by extension, the good people of Ghana," it said.
The release added that the Speaker had, in fact, declined certain facilities provided under the terms of conditions of service as a way of cutting back on cost, including various international travels, details of which could be cross-checked from the Office of Parliament.
It said for the paper to describe the current Speaker as greedy did not only bring the Office of the Speaker into disrepute but was also unfortunate, given the Speaker’s efforts at encouraging minimal expenditure in Parliament since his assumption of office.
"The aim of the current Speaker and Parliament, as an institution, is to encourage free speech in order to deepen the democratic gains made by the country," the release said, adding, however, that "false publications with malicious intent must be discouraged at all times if Ghana is to build on our democratic credentials".
Daily Graphic/Ghana
In a release in reaction to an article published in an Accra newspaper,under the headline, “Greedy Speaker”, the Office of Parliament stated that “the vehicles are part of a convoy of vehicles and not for the Speaker’s personal use".
The release, signed by the Deputy Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Ms Kate Addo, said the story in essence accused the Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, of commandeering vehicles meant for distribution to the Deputy Majority and Minority leaders. "The Office of Parliament wishes to state that the facts of the story are erroneous, mischievous and malicious," it said.
It said even though the paper sought to seek clarification on the issue from the Office of Parliament and was told that the facts of the story, as the paper had it, were wrong, it still went ahead to publish its original story.
"The Office of Parliament would like to place on record that contrary to the report, the Speaker is yet to be allocated an official vehicle in his capacity as Speaker," it said.
The release explained that the BMW saloon car mentioned in the story was acquired when Mr Adjaho was serving as the First Deputy Speaker in the Fifth Parliament and was in fact bought as a second-hand vehicle, together with the one used by the then Second Deputy Speaker, Professor Mike Oquaye.
"The Speaker, being conscious of the exigencies of our current times, has sought to cut back on expenditure and this has been evidenced by his declining to engage in certain endeavours that will incur cost to Parliament and, by extension, the good people of Ghana," it said.
The release added that the Speaker had, in fact, declined certain facilities provided under the terms of conditions of service as a way of cutting back on cost, including various international travels, details of which could be cross-checked from the Office of Parliament.
It said for the paper to describe the current Speaker as greedy did not only bring the Office of the Speaker into disrepute but was also unfortunate, given the Speaker’s efforts at encouraging minimal expenditure in Parliament since his assumption of office.
"The aim of the current Speaker and Parliament, as an institution, is to encourage free speech in order to deepen the democratic gains made by the country," the release said, adding, however, that "false publications with malicious intent must be discouraged at all times if Ghana is to build on our democratic credentials".
Daily Graphic/Ghana