Speaker may be suffering dementia and old age – Asiedu Nketia

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General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye may be suffering from Dementia and old age symptoms.

He could not fathom why the speaker of parliament has been preventing the minority from making their statements and their voice heard in parliament on government issues.

“Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia’s Programme, he warned that they will make parliament ungovernable for the speaker if he continues with his attitude and style of an autocratic leader”.

The speaker is a fine gentleman, someone who understands democracy but he is being autocratic. I don’t know if it is old age or dementia which is making him behave the way he does. I hear he calls himself the ‘emperor’ and I wonder if parliament is his Empire.

The Minority in Parliament staged a walk-out protesting last Tuesday over the Speaker’s decision to refer a motion for a rescission of the $510m AMERI power deal to the Mines and Energy Committee for consideration.

The Majority caucus booed and chanted ‘away, away, away’ as the NDC MPs filed out of the chamber in anger and frustration.

Minutes before the walk-out, the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu was seen furiously gesticulating after the Speaker had shot down his objections to a motion on the AMERI deal.

Haruna Iddrissu had challenged the motion on the rescission of the AMERI deal. He said nowhere in the Standing Orders are motions referred straight to a committee without debating it.

KT Hammond had early on moved the motion for the rescission of the AMERI deal which was seconded by the deputy Majority leader Adwoa Safo.

The Minority Leader’s move to stop the motion was overruled by the Speaker. Subsequently, the motion was moved and seconded without debate, something the Minority members were not happy about.