Parliament adjourns sitting due to lack of quorum

Mr Andrew Amoako Asiamah, the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, on Thursday adjourned the sitting of the House to Friday, June 21, due to the lack of quorum.

Per Article 102 of the 1992 Constitution, “A quorum of Parliament, apart from the person presiding, shall be one-third of all the members of Parliament”.

However, when the issue of quorum was raised by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Minority, the number of Members of the House present in the Chamber as announced by the Second Deputy Speaker, who was Presiding, was 50 out of 275.

Hence, he had to adjourn the sitting of the House to Friday, June 21.

As at the time the House started sitting late Thursday afternoon, the NDC Minority were not in the Chamber, this was because they had to solidarised with their Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, who was facing trial in Court over the issue of 200 ambulances.

At the beginning of the sitting of the House, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Majority Chief Whip expressed surprise at the absence of the NDC Minority members.

Later on as sitting was going on, the Minority members started trickling into the Chamber, and raised the issue of quorum to conduct business.

The Second Deputy, Presiding, ordered that the bell be rang, and after 10 minutes, he suspended sitting for an hour.

Upon the resumption of the House, when the quorum was not met, Mr Asiamah adjourned sitting to Friday, June 21, at 1000 hours.

Source: GNA