MP for North Tongu; Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called for an urgent review of the process by which Legislative Instruments (LIs) are laid in Parliament.
According to him, there are significant flaws in the current system which he believes does not serve the best interests of the populace.
His call comes after a Legislative Instrument laid before Parliament in June sought to amend portions of the Road Traffic Regulations 2012 to allow Members of Parliament, Ministers, and judges to use sirens and drive without speed limit.
The L.I. was however withdrawn on Tuesday after public agitations.
Speaking on the matter on Joy FM’s Newsfile, Mr Ablakwa noted that he first encountered the said LI on Facebook rather than through official parliamentary channels even as an active Member of Parliament.
Mr Ablakwa noted that many MPs, including himself, did not have access to the document when it was laid in Parliament in June 2024.
“We have to admit that this matter has not covered Parliament in glory. There are so many pieces to this puzzle that Parliament itself must review. That is why I put out a statement saying that we need to conduct an investigation into this matter and the way LIs are laid. That day, I was sitting in Parliament without a copy, there were so many MPs who didn’t have a copy as well.
“In all honesty, God is my witness, I read it [the LI] for the first time on Mr Franklin Cudjoe’s [President of IMANI Africa] Facebook page. It is only members of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee who get to see it and then they come and lay it, they don’t give copies to other MPs,” he said on Saturday.
He criticized the current practice where only members of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee have access to LIs before they are laid, leaving other MPs without copies until after the 21 days required for the LI to mature.
“It is wrong, we have turned the whole procedure upside down. So that portion of our constitution and our Standing Orders needs urgent review,” he stressed.
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