Minority stages walkout over ad hoc committee report

The Minority members in Parliament have walked out of the House after complaining the report of the five-man ad hoc committee was too voluminous. The report, which exonerates the Ministry of Trade and Industry of any wrongdoing, was expected to be debated on by the House on Tuesday. But immediately after the report was laid, the Minority members through their leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said they needed more time to go through it before triggering any debate whatsoever. He said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) members were only served with copies of the report on Monday evening and so they needed more time to peruse the content to make meaningful contributions to discussions. They therefore walked out of the chamber. The Majority members were left alone in the chamber to discuss the report. It was subsequently adopted. The Speaker, Aaron Mike Oquaye, subsequently referred the findings to the Privileges Committee for further action. The Minority later addressed the media justifying its members’ action earlier on Tuesday. The ad hoc committee was set up to look into claims that between $25,000 and $100,000 were extorted from some expatriate businesses to sit close to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA). Source: 3news.com|Ghana Follow @3Newsgh  ]]>