The Minority group in Parliament yesterday reacted in an unorthodox manner against the First Deputy Speaker of the House, Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho, when they perceived his ruling to be biased. Hon. Adjaho was sitting in for Mrs. Justice Joyce Bamford Addo, the Speaker of Parliament. The day marked the opening of debate on the government's budget, which was presented last week by the Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor.

Members of the Minority group, majority of who belong to the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) registered their displeasure at what they considered to be consistent unfair rulings by Hon. Doe Adjaho, by banging on the table and screaming -"we want Madam Speaker, we want Madam Speaker", indicating their preference for Justice Bamford Addo to mediate the debate.

In the process, the entire house became chaotic and disorderly, as both sides could not find neutral grounds to agree on issues.

In the heat of events, the First Deputy Speaker asked the Minority leader to call members of his side, especially the MP for Atwima Mponua, Hon. Isaac Asiamah to order, since they were distracting proceedings of the House.

Obviously not happy with the turn of events and his inability to bring members under control, Mr. Adjaho asked his other colleague leaders of the House to assist him in restoring sanity into the House, since according to him; it was part of their responsibility.

Mr Adjaho confessed that since he is not perfect, he is bound to make mistakes, as has been shown by honourable persons who have sat in the Speaker's chair before. He further stated that he does not make rulings to please either the Minority or Majority, but to his conscience or to the best of his ability. Mr. Adjaho said he was not much concerned about what any side of the House makes of his ruling, as long as his conscience served him right.

All these unfolded when the ranking member for Finance, Anthony Akoto Osei, in his remarks on the budget, stated that looking at the government's abysmal performance on revenue, it should not be surprising that in the assessment of expenditures for the corresponding periods, government will not be able to live up to its promises. This, he said, was because looking at the revenue shortfalls, "the government cannot say Ghana is going to be better, as is being alluded to by the government."

But Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin would not let that pass without comment. He raised a point of order and indicated that government could have decided to impose more taxes on petroleum products to get the needed revenue, but decided to ease up the pressure on the people by not taxing them.

Communications Minister, Hon. Haruna Iddirisu, raised an objection to the references that the ranking member had raised, adding that the shortfall in government revenue was because of the global economic recession, reduction in import cover and foreign remittances.

But the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu raised an issue with the Communication Minister's intervention, describing it as very unmeritorious, since in his view it had no relevance and place in the standing orders, which guides the House and members in the performance of their duties. He therefore expressed discomfort at the ruling of the First Deputy Speaker by allowing the Hon. Iddrisu to interject.

As a Minister and a lawyer, he said he expected Haruna Iddrisu to know that if a person is accused of murder and his defense is that someone has also committed a similar offence somewhere, it does not make it less of an offence, saying "Mr. Speaker, if his entry is wrong, it is wrong and you should rule accordingly".

The Minority Leader told the House that the practice is that when a member is making a substantive contribution on the floor, anyone can get up and supply information because that practice is acceptable. "What is not acceptable is someone interjecting with a point of order. That practice is unknown to the standing orders", he noted.

He argued that the speaker gave Haruna Iddrisu the opportunity to speak on a point of order and wanted to hear him through. For this reason, he noted that for the Speaker to afford the Majority Leader the opportunity because he wanted him to aid him in his ruling was not right.

"I am saying that, that process has no space in our standing orders and I repeat it, it has no space", the minority leader said. The Member of Parliament for Anlo, Mr. Clement Kofi Humado, in his submission refuted claims by Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei and noted that the NDC led administration inherited a huge debt of GH ¢2.6 billion from the previous NPP led administration.

At this point, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei raised a point of order and noted that the Anlo MP was misleading the House since the Finance Minister's statement in paragraph 6 of the 2010 budget refers to a deficit, not a debt. "A deficit is not the same as a debt," he stressed.

He therefore called on Mr. Humado to withdraw his statement. But Mr. Humado turned a deaf ear to his call, thereby incurring the displeasure of the Minority members who asked him to be an obedient student. After persistent pressure from the Minority, Mr. Humado succumbed and withdrew his statement.

He however accused the NPP of not adhering to the tenets of the Procurement law, which according to him, made the country to loose so much money through payments of judgment debts with huge interest accrued. "Procurement of works which do not receive approval and have not gone through due process, and cannot be said to be investment in the future, neither can non-payment of judgment debts with interest accrual refer to be investment in the future," he noted.

In his quest to improve upon the living conditions of Ghanaians, he noted that President Mills has identified certain lapses in the Procurement processes and would therefore make amends.

Mr. Humado's pronouncement on judgment debts did not go down well with former Attorney General, Mr. Joe Ghartey, who said most part of the country's judgment debt (90%) fell in the category of Alhaji Yusif's hotel which was broken down illegally during the NDC period. "I have the list, I have the list there", he screamed as his colleagues from the Minority shouted - "hear, hear" - indicating their support for him. His pronouncement electrified the House, thus intensifying the debate.

Mr. Humado continued that all the information provided by the Finance Minister, Dr. Kwabena Duffour, in the budget statement and economic policy of the government of Ghana for 2010 fiscal year clearly showed how the economy was recovering from earlier shocks it encountered during the days of the NPP.

"If you look at the figures, you will realize that in 2009, the agricultural sector for example, performed very marvelously at 6.2 % as against a target of 5.7%. The industrial sector overall declined a bit but if you look at the details, you will realize that most of the subsectors performed creditably. Electricity and water sub-sectors performed at 9% as against 5%, the mining sub-sector performed at 8% as against 5.5% and the manufacturing sub-sector performed at 5% as against 4% recorded in the previous year.

These indicators prove that overall the performance of the economy was better in than in the previous year," he observed. He added "if we were to compare achievements at the end of September 2009 with corresponding figures for 2008, then you would have realized that the economy did much better than the previous year".

But Dr. Akoto Osei would not let go, as he stood to protest at the Anlo MP's contribution, saying "the NDC government sets targets for the people of Ghana and not for the NDC, and if those targets are not met, it is Ghanaians that suffer. Those targets by the Minister of Finance were not met. So, he is misleading the House".

He thus noted that it was very difficult to make a distinction between debating the 2010 budget, since figures for that of 2008 were not provided.