Hell nearly broke loose in Parliament on Wednesday November 10, during a meeting of Members of the Joint Committee on Finance and Energy to discuss the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
According to insiders, the disagreements, which nearly resulted in exchange of blows, started after the Majority side tabled a motion, seeking to amend clause 5 of the bill which forbids government from using the nation’s oil resources as collateral for loans.
The Minority had long accused the Mills administration of harboring plans to amend clause 5 of the bill to allow the administration to use the nation’s oil revenue as collateral to contract huge loans.
Although the Government has persistently denied the minority’s claims, Wednesday’s meeting exposed the falsehood that may have characterized past denials of the government on the issue.
Insiders told Citi News there was near exchange of blows over the issue at the meeting of the Committee Chairman; Hon James Avedzi who moved the motion for a continuation of debate on the proposed amendments.
Amidst rising tempers, Hon Avedzi abruptly truncated the meeting in an attempt to prevent the exchange of words to degenerate into fisticuffs.
When Citi News caught up with him after sitting of Parliament on Thursday November 11, he confirmed the incident but denied that there was near exchange of blows at the meeting.
"If we had insisted that we should continue to go on that issue nobody knows what would have happened. But we are matured people and we don't expect that to happen so the best thing to do was to call off the meeting and thats just what I did. Parliament is about debates from time to time we disagree on issues and later come to a compromise" he said.
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