By Elsie Appiah-Osei
Accra, Sept. 29, GNA – Mr Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader, has expressed disagreement with Mr Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, for his decision to rule the Minority’s motion as inadmissible.
The Motion sought a parliamentary inquiry into the alleged major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana.
Speaker Bagbin ruled on Tuesday that the Motion could not be admitted because the proposed inquiry substantially overlapped with matters currently before the courts and could prejudice pending judicial proceedings.
However, reacting to the ruling, after Tuesday’s recall Sitting, Mr Afenyo-Markin said the existence of cases before the courts should not prevent Parliament from examining broader institutional and systemic issues related to border security and anti-narcotics enforcement.
In a press conference at the Parliament House, he argued that the Speaker got it wrong by using existing pending criminal proceedings to determine the scope and manner of the inquiry.
He maintained that Parliament’s oversight role remained important even when related matters were under investigation or before the courts.
He noted that the proposed inquiry was intended to focus on public institutions and systems rather than replace the work of the judiciary.
Mr Afenyo-Markin, also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu, said the Minority would continue to pursue the matter through appropriate parliamentary procedures.
“We, the minority, will proceed on this path because democracy requires a strong Parliament. A strong Parliament requires an effective minority,” he said.
He added that effective parliamentary oversight was necessary to maintain checks on state institutions.
The Minority’s motion, filed by Mr Habib Iddrisu, the First Deputy Minority Whip and an NPP MP for Tolon, on September 28, sought the establishment of an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate how major alleged narcotics consignments were processed, inspected, cleared and exported from Ghana.
The incidents cited included the seizure of an alleged 3.9 metric tonnes of cocaine at France’s Port of Dunkirk on September 10, 2026, and the seizure of 320 kilogrammes of methamphetamine by the Australian Border Force in June 2026.
In his ruling, Speaker Bagbin said the proposed inquiry could require Parliament to examine evidence, witnesses, conduct and questions of responsibility directly connected to matters before the courts and consequently ruled the motion inadmissible under the Standing Orders 5, 6 and 103, Sub-Rule F.
Parliament sat on Tuesday after a recall by Speaker Bagbin to consider the Minority Caucus’s Motion.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
Reporter: Elsie Appiah-Osei, GNA
Email: [email protected]