MINORITY WALKS OUT OF PARLIAMENT OVER BLOCKED QUESTIONS ON SIM CARD RE-REGISTRATION COSTS

Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has accused the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament of frustrating the Minority's oversight role after members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) staged a walkout from the parliamentary chamber over a dispute regarding questions on the government's SIM card re-registration exercise.

Addressing the media after the walkout, Afenyo-Markin said the Minority's concern centered on the financial implications of the nationwide SIM card re-registration programme. 

According to him, the Minority had sought to question the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation on the total cost of implementing the exercise and the justification for the expenditure.

He explained that the Minority also wanted the minister to disclose how many individuals had previously used stolen identities to register SIM cards, arguing that such information was necessary to assess whether the policy had achieved its intended objectives.

Hon. Afenyo-Markin noted that the minister had earlier indicated that the re-registration exercise would come at no direct cost to subscribers. He therefore argued that Ghanaians deserve transparency regarding the amount of public funds spent on procuring and implementing the nationwide exercise.

The Minority Leader further criticized the First Deputy Speaker for ruling their supplementary question out of order on the grounds that it constituted a "new question." He maintained that the ruling was inconsistent with parliamentary procedures and  undermined the Minority's constitutional responsibility to hold the Executive accountable.
Citing Order 89(1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament, Afenyo-Markin argued that supplementary questions are permitted when they arise from a minister's response and insisted that the Minority's line of questioning was procedurally valid.

He described the Speaker's decision as an abuse of parliamentary rules that shields the government from scrutiny, stating that the Minority's walkout was a protest against what it considers an attempt to suppress legitimate parliamentary oversight.