Fierce arguments reinforcing entrenched positions on the controversial STX housing deal by the NDC majority and the NPP minority have threatened to mar, once again, the twice-postponed debate Tuesday.
The majority is pressing hard to push the deal through for a debate before the House rises tonight, however this has faced a stiff opposition from the minority who argue that they need time to do a diligent work on the agreements, some of which were only presented them Tuesday, to avoid approving something that would not be in the interest of the nation.
The controversial report on the 1.5 billion dollars 30,000 housing units under the STX Korea housing deal for security personnel was relaid before Parliament Tuesday, the third in the process of getting the deal through.
The Majority was therefore compelled to add two important components of the deal – the Off-taker and Joint Venture agreements – which were initially omitted from the report.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Doe Adjaho, who sat in for the Speaker Mrs Joyce Bamford Addo, approved a request that the Joint Committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing and Finance be asked to mull over the deal before it is laid before Parliament for debate.
The Speaker subsequently suspended sitting for an hour and directed the Joint Committee to work on the deal.
Immediately after the Speaker had made the declaration, the Minority displaying their dissatisfaction over the ruling started banging their desk and shouting on top of their voices “No way! No way!….”
The debate on the deal is expected to eat deep into the evening, and the Minority led by the Deputy Leader Ambrose Dery says an hour is not enough for members to go through the documents.
He said the pressure from the Majority is only aimed at “stampeding” the Minority and prayed that “reason prevail and diligent works” done on the deal.
Joy FM’s Parliamentary correspondent, Sammy Darko, reports that the fully-packed House has been plunged into noisy exchanges and anxiety.
The law makers are set for what is anticipated to be a heated debate on the STX agreement if sitting resumes.
Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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