Iddrisu contributes to proceedings from Majority side …after rejecting seat allocation
Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, on Thursday contributed to proceedings from Majority side of the House, after he rejected a seat offered him by the new leadership of the Minority caucus.
Making his first appearance at the plenary of Parliament since the House resumed on Tuesday, Mr Iddrisu made his contribution from the Majority side of the House whilst occupying the First Deputy Speaker’s seat.
The new minority leadership had offered the seat of the MP for Asutifi South, Collins Dauda, to Mr Haruna on the front row, but Mr Iddrisu said, by his upbringing and training, he could not take the seat of his “senior”.
“Mr Speaker, forgive me that I have to assume your chair. There was (consideration) whether I should take over from Collins Dauda or yours (for today’s sitting) and I have told them that honourable Collins Dauda is my senior by age and a senior even in this House.
“So, I will not fit into (Collins Dauda’s) chair as somebody who is well-trained from home. Any other chair, Mr Speaker, is acceptable to me. I am still the elected Member of Parliament for Tamale South,” Mr Iddrisu said.
He however, commented on the motion for the adoption of the African Union Convention on Cross-border cooperation (Niamey Convention) resolution.
Mr Iddrisu after making his contribution crossed over to the Minority side to occupy the seat formerly occupied by the new Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, right behind the Minority front bench.
Mr Dauda’s seat is one of four seats on the front row – two on the Majority side occupied by the Deputy Speakers of Parliament and the other by Cletus Avoka, MP for Zebila and a former Majority leader.
Mr Dauda first came to Parliament in 1993, but has made two come-backs after electoral defeats, just like his ‘desk mate’ Cletus Avoka, making the two lawmakers the only surviving MPs from the first Parliament of the fourth republic.
The former Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Ketu North, James Klutse Avedzi, since resumption has taken the seat of new Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza, also behind the minority front bench.
Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, the outgone minority chief whip, who is yet to report to the House since resumption, the Ghanaian Times gathered, has also been allocated a seat on the second row of the minority side of the House.
Per parliamentary practice, the longer one stays in the House, the closer he comes to the front row and by extension leadership.
Dr Forson and the Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle, are in their fourth terms each in Parliament, having entered the House in 2009. The Minority Chief Whip, Governs Kwame Agbodza, MP, Adaklu, joined the House in 2013.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
