Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central and a member of the governing Board of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Isaac Adongo, has defended Parliament’s decision to exclude the media from proceedings involving the appearance of Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Johnson Pandit Asiama, insisting the move was necessary to ensure focused and disciplined deliberations.
The decision sparked a heated confrontation in Parliament on Tuesday July 15, with the Minority strongly opposing the restriction on media coverage.
The disagreement eventually led to a walkout by Minority Members of Parliament, who argued that the public had a right to witness the Governor’s responses to questions concerning the country’s economy.
Speaking to journalists after the incident, Mr. Adongo rejected claims that the Majority was attempting to shield the Governor from scrutiny.
According to him, the decision was intended to prevent the parliamentary session from being diverted into political exchanges unrelated to the questions before the House.
“If you open the gates for the media to be there, the discussion will not be about the issues we are addressing with the Governor today,” Adongo said.
He argued that allowing unrestricted media coverage could encourage political grandstanding rather than meaningful oversight.
“The Governor could get up and speak about every subject under the sun, and that is what you would capture and report. It would then appear as though those were the issues Parliament invited him to discuss. That is why he has to be controlled and made to stick to the matters before the House,” he explained.
Adongo further accused the Minority of deliberately seeking political spectacle instead of substantive engagement with the Governor.
“They know the questions they have asked will not create any drama. What they want is drama, and the drama comes when someone stands up and starts speaking about matters that have nothing to do with the questions,” he stated.
He suggested that discussions could easily drift into topics such as the government’s 24-hour economy policy and other unrelated national issues if firm procedural rules were not enforced.
“He will leave the questions and begin talking about the 24-hour economy, tractors, Nkokonkitikiti and all manner of issues that are not before us. We are not going to allow anyone to sidestep the purpose for which the Governor has been invited and then dictate what the media reports,” Adongo said.
He maintained that the Governor would be given every opportunity to answer questions from Members of Parliament but stressed that the proceedings had to remain orderly and focused on the subject matter under consideration.
The Majority’s decision to hold the engagement without media coverage has generated widespread public debate over parliamentary transparency and accountability.
While the Majority insists the restriction was necessary to preserve the integrity of the proceedings, the Minority has described the move as an attempt to prevent Ghanaians from hearing the Governor’s responses on critical economic issues.
The disagreement culminated in the Minority staging a walkout from the chamber in protest, further intensifying the political controversy surrounding the Governor’s appearance before Parliament.
By 1960news.com
