Debates of 29 May 2009

MADAM SPEAKER
PRAYERS 10 a.m.
VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS AND THE OFFICIAL REPORT 10 a.m.
Madam Speaker 10 a.m.
Hon Members, Correction of Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 28th May, 2009 - [Pause.]
In the absence of any corrections, the Votes and Proceedings of Thursday, 28th May, 2009 be adopted as the true record of proceedings.

Hon Members, in the absence of any corrections, the Official Report of Thursday, 28 th May, 2009 is hereby adopted as the true record of proceedings.
Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I got up when we were on the corrections of the Official Report. Unfortunately, as usual, I could not attract your attention.
Madam Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Hon Member, you did not catch my eye?
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
I noticed that, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, it is in respect of
statements attributed to me -
Madam Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Yes.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:10 a.m.
At column 55, the last but two lines in the last but one paragraph, some word has been attributed to me. “Find”, I said “. . . if committees could fan out”, not “find out before the House commences business”. So the word is “fan”, not “find”.
Madam Speaker, the second line, column 56, the use of the word “codes”. I said “code” not “codes” - “. . . our own code”, that is our “rules of procedure” and not “rules and procedures”. So in place of “and” it should be “of” not “and”.
Madam Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Thank you.
Business Statement for the Second Week - Chairman, Business Committee?
BuSINESS OF THE HOuSE
Majority Leader/Chairman of
Business Committee (Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin): Madam Speaker, I stand to present the Business Statement for the Second Week ending Friday, 5th June,
2009.
Introduction
Madam Speaker, the Committee met yesterday, Thursday, 28th May, 2009 and arranged Business of the House for the Second Week ending Friday, 5th June,
2009.
Madam Speaker, the Committee accordingly submits its Report as follows 10:10 a.m.
Arrangement of Business
Question(s)
Madam Speaker, the Committee has programmed the following Ministers to answer Questions during the week:
No. of Question(s)
i. Minister for Environment, Science and Technology 1
ii. Minister for Transport 1
iii. Minister for Energy 1
iv. Minister for Roads and Highways 5
Total Number of Questions 8
Madam Speaker, in all, eight (8) Questions are expected to be answered during the week.
Statements
Madam Speaker may allow Statements duly admitted to be made in the House.
Papers and Reports
Madam Speaker, Papers and Reports may be presented to the House for consideration.
Motions and Resolutions
Madam Speaker, Motions may be debated and their consequential Resolutions, if any, taken during the week.
Madam Speaker, Hon Members are
to take note that the House Committee is scheduled to meet after adjournment on Wednesday, 3rd June, 2009.
Madam Speaker, the Business Committee further wishes to inform Hon Members that a comprehensive Agenda for the Second Meeting will soon be made available to guide Hon Members during the Meeting. Conclusion
Madam Speaker, the Committee accordingly submits its Report as follows 10:10 a.m.


Questions -

Minister for Environment, Science and Technology - 1

Statements

Laying of Papers --

(a) Credit Agreement between the Republic of Ghana and Societe Generale (Canada) (with Insurance Guarantee from Export Development Canada [EDC]) for an amount of one hundred and ninety- six million, four hundred and eighty thousand, one hundred and seventy United States dollars (US$196,480,170.00) to finance the construction of a 132-megawatt combined-cycle thermal power plant at Aboadze.

(b) Public Office Holders (Decla- ration of Assets and Disqua- lification) Regulations, 2009

(L.I. 1957).

(c) Annual Report of Ghana Environmental Protection Agency 2003.

(d) Annual Report of the Export Development and Investment Fund, 2005.

(e) Annual Report on Presidential Office Staff for the period January to December 2008.

(f) Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on Manage-ment of Ghana Police Residential Accommodation.

Motions

Committee Sittings.

Questions -

Minister for Transport - 2

Statements

Laying of Papers --

(a) Report of the Committee of Selection on the Review of the Composition of the Com- mittees.

(b) Report of the Finance Committee on the following:

Customs and Excise (Duties and Other Taxes) (Amendment) Bill,

2009.

Debt Recovery (Tema Oil Refinery Company) Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2009

(c) Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Ministries, Departments and Other Agencies of the Central Government) for the year ended 31st December 2006.

(d) Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Ministries, Departments and Other Agencies of the Central Government) for the year ended 31st December 2007.

(e) Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on the Implementation of Infrastructure
Madam Speaker, the Committee accordingly submits its Report as follows 10:10 a.m.
(f) Ninth Annual Report of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice for the period January 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004.
(g) Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2006 2009 for the year 2007.
(h) Annual Report and Accounts of the Ghana Road Fund for the year 2006.
(i) Annual Report of the Minerals Commission for the year 2006.
Motions
Committee Sittings.

Questions -

Minister for Energy - 3

Statements

Laying of Papers --

(a ) Repor t o f the F inance Committee on the waiver of tax liability on equipment/materials to be imported or purchased locally, corporate and expatriate taxes in respect of Accra Tema Municipal Area (ATMA) Rural Water Supply Expansion (South and North Kpong) Project.

(b) Report of the Finance Committee on the International Coffee Agreement, 2007.

(c) Report of the Committee on Lands and Forestry on the Voluntary Partnership Agree- ment (VPA) on Timber Trade

and Development Cooperation with the European Union.

Motions

Committee Sittings --

House Committee to meet after adjournment

Questions -

Minister for Roads and Highways -14, 15, 16, 17 and 18

Statements

Laying of Papers --

Report of the Committee on Mines and Energy on the Petroleum Agreement among the Government of the Republic of Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation ( G N P C ) a n d Va n c o G h a n a Limited and LUKOIL Overseas Ghana Limited for the conduct of exploration and production operations in the Offshore Cape Three Points Deep Water Block.

Motions -

Adoption of the Report of the Committee of Selection on the Review of the Composition of the Committees.

Committee Sittings.

Madam Speaker, this is the proposed

Business Statement for the approval of the House.
Madam Speaker 10:10 a.m.
Thank you, Hon Member.
Mr. Robert Sarfo-Mensah 10:20 a.m.
We thank the Leader of the House for presenting to us a detailed business programme for next week.
Madam Speaker, I put in two Urgent Questions for the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs and was expecting that they would be advertised for next week. It is an issue which is bringing some confusion and problems in my constituency and I understand, in several other areas. So I would like to crave your indulgence, if they could be advertised for Thursday, 4th June 2009, since on Thursday the Minister for Energy would be here to answer only three Questions.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
rose
Madam Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Hon Member, are you going to talk about the Business Statement because that is the stage at which we are?
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 10:20 a.m.
Yes, Madam Speaker.
I also put in a Question for the Minister for Finance and I am told now they have added “Economics” -- Minister for Finance and Economic Planning; yes, an Urgent Question to that effect. It has not been captured here and that has got to do with the transitional team and how much they spent on the transitional team. So it is an Urgent Question I asked about three months ago and one would have expected that at least, since it has been
there for quite a long time, it should have been captured for next week; but it is not reflected here.
So I hope that will come so that Ghanaians will know how much indeed was spent on the transitional team.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker 10:20 a.m.
Yes, Hon Leader, I think we are scheduling the Questions, is that not so?
Mr. Bagbin 10:20 a.m.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, my attention has not been drawn to these Urgent Questions. Now that they have mentioned them, we will look through to see whether Madam Speaker has admitted Urgent Questions.
Urgencies are determined through a procedure. If they are admitted by Madam Speaker as Urgent Questions, we would proceed to programme them for the Business of the House next week.
I only got a bit unclear about the two Urgent Questions that were earlier on referred to by my Hon Colleague. This is because initially, I heard him talk about the Ministry for Food and Agriculture, then he ended up talking about the Minister for Energy appearing on Thursday, so I did not get that correctly -- whether there were two Questions, one on Food and Agriculture and the other on Energy.
Mr. Sarfo-Mensah 10:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I was suggesting that if that Urgent Question could be fixed for Thursday since only the Minister for Energy would be here for three Questions. That was what I said. My Question is for the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs and it relates to the mass spraying that would be taking place next week or next two
Mr. C. K. Humado 10:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I stand on a point of correction. My Hon Colleague referred to the Minister for Food and Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs twice. The first time, I thought it was just a slip of tongue, but when he mentioned it again, I thought I should correct it. We do not have a Minister who is in charge of Food and Agriculture and at the same time Cocoa Affairs. Cocoa is under COCOBOD and that is under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
Thank you.
Maj. D. Y. Oduro (retd): Madam Speaker, in February, I also filed two Questions - Urgent Questions for the Ministers for Defence and the Interior but I have not heard anything about them.
Madam Speaker 10:20 a.m.
The Questions are being programmed and when they come to - [Interruption.]
Mr. Bagbin 10:20 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am sure my Hon Colleague is aware that by February this House was still trying to assist His Excellency the President to get his Ministers in place, so there could not have been those Ministers to be answering the Questions. But we will take note of them, look at the Questions and if they are really urgent, why not, we will try and get the Ministers, even though we did not programme them for next week, to come before the House. Once they are Urgent Questions, they should urgently be answered. So I accept that one; we will see what we can do to programme them for next week.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:30 a.m.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for the opportunity.
Madam Speaker, I believe this business relating to Urgent Questions, we must confront it and see the best way forward because our rules of procedure, that is Order 60 (3) provides that a Minister shall not take more than three weeks to respond to a Question from the House. That is the normal regular Question. It stands to reason by extension of reasoning that a Question which is deemed to be urgent should therefore not go beyond three weeks; it should come before two weeks to be answered in the House.
Madam Speaker, you determine the urgency of a Question, and once it is done then I believe it should not take more than three weeks, otherwise, its status then changes. If it should stay for three weeks, its status automatically changes to an ordinary Question.
Madam Speaker, the next thing that I guess we may also have to address relates to Order 64 (1) which provides that and I quote:
“A Question shall not be asked without notice unless it is of an urgent character relating either to a matter of public importance or the arrangement of business, . . .”
in this case, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I believe that a proper
reading of this may mean, or may suggest that an Urgent Question may not have to be advertised. And so, we may have to look at how to have the status of an Urgent Question reflected in the transaction of Business in the House.
Again, if you read Order 69 (1), and with your indulgence I read:
“As soon as a Question is answered in the House, any Member, beginning with the Member who asked the Question may without notice, ask a supplementary Question for the further elucidation of any matter of fact regarding which the answer has been given, . . .”

Madam Speaker, the combined effect of Orders 69 (1) and 69 (4) in my view, would suggest to us that an Urgent Question may not even have to be advertised, so that is another strand. The first strand which is of utmost importance to me now, is the time limit, that is the three-week time period within which an Urgent Question may necessarily have to be answered.

This is because as I have indicated, even an ordinary Question, it is provided for an ordinary Question that a Minister shall not take more than three weeks. It is obligatory for the Minister not to take more than three weeks, at least, once notice is given to him of the Question.

So Madam Speaker, I believe we have to really apply critical thinking to establish the urgency of a Question and have it accordingly so treated.

Madam Speaker, I thank you.
Mr. Bagbin 10:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, we have
gone through a lot of experiences in this respect. All governments have failed in our expectation to abide by our thinking or understanding of this provision. But mostly, it is not intentional, it is because of the process, the bureaucracy and the state of the public service. Even when they say a Minister shall not take more than three weeks to respond to a Question from
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:30 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, my experience indicates that there is the need for a nexus between the Business Committee and the Clerk's Office with respect to Questions. This is because Questions may be admitted by Madam Speaker but the Business Committee may not be aware of. Questions may be admitted by Madam Speaker but the Business Committee necessarily, immediately may not be aware of them. So there is the need for this nexus.
As regards Ministers, of course, Ministers are very busy people and sometimes Questions may get to a Ministry, the Minister may not be personally aware. But it is up to the Minister to manage his office in such a manner that the public servants there know that Questions coming from Parliament should take precedence over every other business, because if you do not do that some Questions may get lost.
I believe that the time has come for Parliament to flex its muscles. I have been a Minister and sometimes I had asked for rescheduling. But the time has come for Parliament to assert itself so as to ensure that Questions sent to Ministers are treated as matters of importance.
I can say for myself that when I was the Minister -- we can ask the Clerk's Office -- I always treated Questions coming from Parliament as matters of grave importance
- [Laughter.] This time round, I believe that we shall be ensuring that Ministers treat this House with the importance that it deserves.
Prof. Samuel Kwadwo Amoako 10:30 a.m.
I
think the Majority Leader, on the first page, when he was presenting the Business of the House said that there will be nine Questions in total and one Question is supposed to be addressed by the Minister for Energy.
But when you look at page three, he has listed three Questions. I do not know whether it is a mistake or some sort of inconsistency. So there should be a total of about eleven Questions and not nine. Madam Speaker, can he please explain that to us? On page one, we have one Question, and on page three, we have three Questions for the Minister for Energy.
Mr. Bagbin 10:30 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank
the Hon Member for drawing my attention to that typographical error.
On Thursday, we have scheduled three Questions for the Minister for Energy but that is not what appeared on the first page, so the total should be eleven. We are most grateful.
I have also just seen that the House Committee meeting too, there is a problem there. On the first page, it is stated to be Wednesday but in the details, it is put on Thursday. These are secretarial problems. I think that it is Thursday, 4th June, 2009.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:30 a.m.
Madam
Speaker, I am Hon Papa Owusu-Ankomah but we must also continue with the provisions of the Standing Orders, by
Madam Speaker 10:30 a.m.
Even though,
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, indeed, you are the one most affected by this -- [Laughter] - Because, Madam Speaker, you are presumed to know the names and constituencies of all Hon Members even though the presumption is not irrebuttable.
Mr. Bagbin 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, the Member of Parliament for Sekondi, Hon Papa Owusu-Ankomah - we have instructed the Clerk's Office to immediately make available to us all the Questions admitted by the Speaker. So a photocopy is submitted to the Hon Chairman of the Business Committee and we have a file on that. We will try to work to bridge that gap -- but between us and the Ministry, it is an issue that we are working on. In fact, we are getting directives to the Hon Ministers to have schedule officers for Parliament so that on daily basis some of those matters can be handled by them with the Hon Ministers to try to expedite the work.
I do not know how effective it will be,
rose
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon Member, is it
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, still on the Business of the House for next week.
Madam Speaker, page one, item 3, it is stated that a comprehensive Agenda for this Second Meeting will be made available soon. Madam Speaker, I think it is quite unusual that up to this level, we do not have an Agenda for this Second Meeting. And obviously, the Agenda will have the proposed Bills and other things we are supposed to do, including all the Questions that Hon Members have asked. That will guide us a bit to know the status of the Questions that we have asked.
Right now, I am told there are even some classes of Questions left and right. So, it is important that that Agenda for this Second Meeting is made available to guide Hon Members as to what we should expect in the coming days. It is important.
For me, it is unusual this has kept so long. I do not know what is keeping the Business Committee and for that matter, the Hon Majority Leader and his side from being able to come out with the Agenda for this Second Meeting. It is unusual and it should be rectified as soon as possible.
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Well, if I may say so, I have an Agenda. But he said a “comprehensive” Agenda. “Compre- hensive” - He does not want to go and make mistakes and be taken on. So, it is the “comprehensive” Agenda which will come later.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 10:40 a.m.
You have an Agenda. What about me? We have no Agenda here. We do not even have any Agenda whatever. We do not even have a skeletal Agenda. [Some Hon Members: Sit down.]
rose
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Let us hear the Hon Chairman of the Business Committee.
Mr. Bagbin 10:40 a.m.
I have listened to my Hon Colleague. I know that he is aware that even Hon Members are still filing Questions and we wanted to incorporate those early ones in the Agenda to make it comprehensive. We have the basic one, but we need to add all this to make it comprehensive. I have given the draft to my Hon Colleague, the Hon Minority Leader; he is going through it, and maybe, Hon Members of the Minority may have some business they will want to draw our attention to.
So, I think it is rather better in our interest to give more room for this to be done. And when we come out with the Agenda, it will be all-embracing and all- inclusive for the Meeting.
Mr. I. K. Asiamah 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
my Hon Senior Colleague here knows that Questions are endless process of the Business of this House. They keep on coming. So, as for expecting Questions to end before that document is made available, is neither here nor there. Hon Members will keep on asking Questions on a daily basis. We keep on thinking of Ghana all the time and thinking of Questions which are germane to the interest of this country. Questions will never cease coming.
So it is important that that document is made available right from the word go to guide Hon Members as to what to expect in the coming days. So, this is legitimate; I expect him not to blame the issue on Questions.
Madam Speaker 10:40 a.m.
Hon Member, he has told you that he has taken note of your comments and that you will get a comprehensive Agenda soon. So, if
I may just urge you to exercise a little patience because the Business Committee is manned by so many other people and I am sure you will be served soon, now that you have made your voice so loudly heard on the matter.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I thank you very much for recognising me.
Please, Hon Members should not feel offended, thinking that I am talking too much. But it is important that while we are in this Chamber, we also get to know the Orders of the House.
Madam Speaker, on this question of Agenda, I would like to refer you to Order 33 (1) on page 21 which states:
“The Clerk shall send to each Member a copy of the Agenda for each Meeting, if possible, fourteen days before the Meeting, and shall, whenever the circumstances require, circulate a Supplementary Agenda.”
Madam Speaker, it says “if possible fourteen days” and “whenever the circumstances require, circulate a Supplementary Agenda”. This presup- poses that if it is not possible to circulate the Agenda fourteen days before the Meeting, at least, by the time of First Sitting of the Meeting, we get an Agenda and then later on, we get a Supplementary Agenda. It is important.
But of course, over the years, we have glossed over these matters - [Uproar.] -- Over the years, we have glossed over these matters. However, as we grow as Parliament, we should as much as possible conform to the Standing Orders, where particularly, it is important for the orderly Business of the House. I am sure that now,
we will all co-operate and get this Agenda as soon as possible.
Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:40 a.m.
Madam Speaker, as has been pointed out by my Hon Colleague, the Hon Member for Sekondi, indeed, the Agenda of Parliament is intended to set out the Business to be transacted in the course of each particular Meeting. So, ordinarily, as he has said, to the best of the ability of the Clerk, at least, two weeks before the reconvening of Parliament, we should be served.
We are not, maybe, one would say, in normal times, but one definitely must urge the Clerk on to clearly have the Agenda fashioned out. Of course, with the active collaboration of the Hon Majority Leader, who is supposed to be the Leader of Government Business. The Clerk certainly cannot do it without the input from the Leader of Government Business.
We have all been told that in spite of some difficulties government was purposed to hit the ground running. They have hit the ground and it looks like they have suffered some disability but we must urge them on to do what is right. But beyond that, I believe the Hon Colleagues here who have Questions to file must also file them as early as possible. I notice that some Questions which were filed the previous Meeting are missing in the draft Agenda that we have.
The draft bears only 27 Questions and I believe the normal thing to do is for Hon Members who filed Questions, which could not be answered in the previous Meeting to declare their intent to resurrect those Questions and then they would be incorporated into the new Agenda. Those of them who also still have Questions which have not been filed should do so as urgently as possible so that within the next
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
I do know that there is a draft Agenda by the Clerk which has been given to the Business Committee and myself for finalisation before it is circulated to Hon Members, unless it is the Clerk who should send out this draft Agenda without the authority of the Business Committee. I have had it for quite a long time and I think the Business Committee has also been served with it. So I think very soon it must be done.
It is right that at the beginning we must give and then supplement it with any changes. As for Questions, they have been approved by the Speaker. So it is not every Question that would be listed-- if you say 27 Questions, some could have fallen by the wayside, we do not know but it is not every Question that is automatically filed, and as soon as they come, they would be approved, and if approved, they would be filed.
I think Hon Leader has given the undertaking that it is very comprehensive and would come very early because the Clerk has already prepared the Agenda.
Yes, so we have finished with the Business Statement of the week. No Statements are coming on today. Commencement of Public Business no, Committee Sittings will follow.
Hon Leader, any indication of -
rose
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
I wish to tell Hon Members that I have to, not hear you but see you. So I have seen you now. So
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I made that little comment yesterday because when the distin-guished Leader was talking, I stood up quite a few times and I thought I had a very valid point but I was not that was why I made that comment. But I realise that sometimes I go a bit too low --
Madam Speaker, it is just an appeal that while appreciating the provisions of the Standing Orders and the prerogative -- quite a very serious prerogative entrusted to the Rt. Hon Speaker to accept or to reject Questions, I believe, so that democracy will grow. I am not making any personal allusions at all that to the largest extent possible do not allow many Questions to fall by the wayside as you put - [Laughter.] He is telling me about the parable of the sower.
But I believe, Madam Speaker, that to a very large extent some of the Questions mean a lot to the Members of Parliament and they could be rephrased. Sometimes it is a matter of semantics and the rephrasing of all these Questions and the issues can come and the Whips can meet and maybe, or even the Leadership can agree and make these Questions come on.
This is because sometimes these are the Questions that our people out there want to hear and I believe that quite a few times governments - and we have been on the other side before -- may be uncomfortable with the Questions but c'est la vie, that is life. It must come and these will have to come so that we will debate them, we will ask the Questions and then the Answers are provided.
I do not think all Questions should make the Government comfortable and that is why I am making this special appeal. It may be misplaced for all I know,
but whatever it is, I am asking that most of the Questions to a very large extent are allowed and if they are not properly couched, they could be couched well.
But the Government -- we, both sides, must keep the Government on its toes and to make sure that they answer some Questions to the rank and file not only of the party but of the whole nation and that is a very special appeal of my over-a-decade experience in the House that I make to the distinguished Rt. Hon Speaker of this august House.
I thank you very much.
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Thank you, Hon
Mr. Owusu-Agyemang 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, I am sorry. I am not saying I am the Speaker at all. I have never had the privilege of being a Speaker but at least, as a Member of Parliament, I am making an appeal. It is an appeal and so I am not challenging the Chair at all. How dare I? Except by a substantive motion. So I will
Madam Speaker 10:50 a.m.
Thank you very much, Hon Member. I appreciate your comments and also the fact that you helped to make me a Speaker.
So Hon Leader, adjournment -
Mr. A. S. K. Bagbin 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker,
we have laid and referred a lot of business to committees and a number of committees have scheduled meetings, so we will try to adjourn this time and -- my Hon Colleague will say it is not “adjourn”, it is “adjourn” which is phonetics. So with the permission of my Hon Colleagues, I beg to move, that this House do adjourn till Tuesday at 10.00 in the forenoon when we shall reconvene.
Madam Speaker, I beg to move.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu 10:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, in seconding the motion for adjournment, I just want to remind my Hon Colleague, the Majority Leader that even though he places a lot of emphasis on phonetics, I have never heard him when he wants to inform me of his departure to his constituency. I have never heard him say that he wants to embark on a “journey” to his constituency. He has always told me that he wants to embark on a “journey” to his constituency.
Madam Speaker, I second the motion for adjournment.
Question put and motion agreed to.
ADJOuRNMENT
The House was accordingly adjour-
ned at 11.01 a.m. till 2nd June, 2009 at