The Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, has stated that the Memorandum he wrote to the Speaker of the House, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, was delivered on Friday 20th March 2020 contrary claims from the Director of the Public Affairs Department.
According to him, the Memorandum was duly received and entered in the record book in the Office of the Speaker.
He indicated that the document was copied the First Deputy Speaker, Second Deputy Speaker, and the Majority Leader and delivered and received in the respective Offices on the same day.
These, he said, could be verified from the records of the respective Offices.
“It is therefore unfortunate that the Director of Public Affairs of the Parliamentary Service would make a categorical pronouncement on the matter without cross-checking from the Secretariat of the Speaker.”
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“I wish to reiterate that the said Memorandum was delivered on Friday, 20th March 2020 and duly received in the Speaker’s Office.”
“I do not control the administrative arrangements in the Office of the Speaker and cannot, therefore, determine when a document delivered in the Office is brought to the attention of the Speaker,” he stated.
Read the full text of the Memorandum below:
RE: SPEAKER RESPONDS TO MINORITY CONCERNS ON BIPARTISAN
APPROACH TO COVID-19
My attention has been drawn to a press release signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the Parliamentary Service conveying a response of the Rt. Hon. Speaker on the above subject matter.
The response is in respect of a Memorandum I wrote to the Rt. Hon. Speaker appealing for a bi-partisan approach to tackle the Covid- 19 pandemic, which was circulated in the public space.
I wish to reiterate that the said Memorandum was delivered to the Office of the Speaker on 20th March 2020 and was duly received and entered in the record book in the Office of the Speaker. The Memorandum was copied the First Deputy Speaker, Second Deputy Speaker, and the Majority Leader and was delivered and received in the respective Offices on the same day. These could be verified from the records of the respective Offices.
The Director of Public Affairs in her response alleged: “No such letter has reached his [Speaker] Office as at Tuesday, morning, 24th March 2020”. It is unfortunate that the Director would make a categorical pronouncement on the matter without cross-checking from the Secretariat of the Speaker.
I wish to reiterate that the said Memorandum was delivered on Friday, 20th March 2020 and duly received in the Speaker’s Office. I do not control the administrative arrangements in the Office of the Speaker and cannot, therefore, determine when a document delivered in the Office is brought to the attention of the Speaker.
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Suffice to state that from the response of the Director, the Speaker was in the Office on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. It is therefore ironic that a document delivered on Friday was only seen on Tuesday.
As indicated in paragraph 3, the document was copied a number of Officers and duly received in the respective Offices. I am therefore not in a position to determine the source of its publication in social media.
As indicated in the response from the Director, there are procedures for handling matters in Parliament but fell short in admitting that one of such procedure is through formal communications as was applied in the present case. For the record, I did not breach any procedure by writing formally to the Speaker conveying the views of the Minority Caucus on an important subject as the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is a fact that I was absent in the House on Saturday 21st March 2020 and it was so for all Members of the Minority Caucus. The House ordinarily does not Sit on Saturdays except where the exigencies require and upon consultations with Leadership of both sides of the House. Unfortunately, the decision to Sit on the said Saturday was taken without due consultations with the Minority. I accordingly informed the House that the Minority would not be part of the business of the Saturday, 21st March 2020. The Rt. Hon. Speaker should therefore not be surprised by my absence on the said date.
I was in my constituency on Saturday, 21st March 2020, and returned to Accra the morning of Monday, 23rd March 2020. I could not, therefore, be part of the Leadership meeting of the morning of Monday, 23rd March 2020. The Rt. Hon. Speaker is however aware of my punctuality at the early morning Leadership meetings; most often, the first to arrive at the venue. My commitment and punctuality at the said meetings are therefore incontrovertible.
I wish to state that the Minority’s position in the said Memorandum was driven by the national interest and the need for both sides of the political divide to work assiduously to tackle the pandemic. It is my prayer and the prayer of the Minority Caucus that we will all work with a sense of urgency and with dispatch in these abnormal times.
Thank you
Haruna Iddrisu
Minority Leader
