Parliament was thrown into turmoil on Wednesday when the Minority Caucus staged a walkout.
They are accusing First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor of frustrating their efforts to hold Ministers accountable.
The controversy began when Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin asked the Communications Minister about the planned re-registration of SIM cards.
When he attempted to ask a follow-up question on whether the process was following proper procurement procedures, the Deputy Speaker disallowed it, ruling that the question deviated from the original one.
Frustrated, the Minority walked out.
Speaking to journalists after exiting the chamber, Afenyo-Markin accused Ahiafor of using parliamentary rules to intimidate and frustrate backbenchers.
“We have observed that the First Deputy Speaker has a way of using the rules to stampede parliamentary oversight,” he said.
“You’ve all observed that he started an attack on our backbenchers, any time our backbenchers were on the floor. He will use the rules to frustrate them.”
He insisted his question was in the public interest.
“This is a government policy seeking to start SIM registration afresh. They claim people use unverifiable identities. Our question is, at what cost? How many people were identified to have used stolen IDs? Especially when the minister himself said it would be at no cost to subscribers.”
“That’s a harmless question. It’s in the interest of the Ghanaian public to know how much it is costing the nation.
Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that under Order 89.1, members are permitted to ask supplementary questions anchored on a Minister’s answer for clarification.
“The rules under 89.1 allows you to anchor your supplementary question on an answer given by the minister for the purpose of clarification,” he said.
“The rules are not meant to be used to intimidate, frustrate, and bring parliament to a standstill.”
He also claimed that even the Majority Leader disagreed with the Deputy Speaker’s ruling.
“As you observe, even his own side disagreed with him. The majority leader himself realised that what he was doing was wrong.”
The MP said the walkout was not a spontaneous act but the culmination of months of frustration.
“We’ve tolerated the first deputy speaker for quite some time,” he said.
However, he confirmed the Minority would return to the chamber to continue other business.
“We protested his posture on this very matter. We’re going back into the chamber to deal with other business.”