Bagbin Warns Parliamentary Select Committee Chairs over Delayed Reports

Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has issued a stern warning, threatening to charge Chairmen of Parliamentary Select Committees with contempt if they fail to submit timely reports.

The warning comes in response to allegations made on Monday by Carlos Ahenkorah, Chairman of the Trade, Industry and Tourism Committee, and K.T Hammond, the Minister for Trade and Industry. They accused Kwaku Kwarteng, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, of neglecting to review and report to the plenary on tax waiver requests for factories under the One District One Factory Policy. This referral was made by the Speaker in 2021.

Yusif Sulemana, the Ranking Member on the Trade and Industry Committee, recently disclosed that the Finance Committee currently holds over GHC5 billion in requests, with an additional GHC7 billion expected from the government for approval in the trade industry.

In response to these concerns, Speaker Alban Bagbin emphasized that the committee must promptly report to the house for further action.

“I addressed one of these issues some time ago when I spoke to the committee chairman. If there are any concerns, they should be reported to the house. However, it is unacceptable for committees to decide independently not to report to the house after we have referred matters to them,” Bagbin stated.

He went on to express the possibility of pursuing contempt cases against individuals in the future, cautioning that non-performance in committee leadership roles could lead to recommendations for replacements according to the standing orders.