The Minority in Parliament has opted to boycott a stakeholders’ engagement concerning the Lithium Mining Agreement.
This agreement, involving Barari DV, was presented by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister in July and was then sent to the Lands and Natural Resources Committee for review.
Alhassan Suhuyini, the Ranking Member of the Committee, explained that their absence from the meeting was due to a simultaneous emergency Parliament session at the conference center.
As a result, they will not recognize the meeting’s outcomes.
“Regarding a call from Parliament to rectify two leases—a bauxite mining lease and the other a lithium mining lease—this meeting is being attended by only the majority members of the committee, and the reason is simple: the processes leading up to the organization of the meeting have been very flawed.
“Today is a special meeting of Parliament. It is not just special because about 15% of Members of Parliament have called this sitting. It is also special because of the venue that has been chosen for today’s sitting. It is not our usual venue. At our usual venue, it is easy to have committee meetings taking place at the same time as business on the floor, so that when it becomes necessary, members can move from the committee meetings to the business on the floor.”
Suhuyini criticized the process leading up to the meeting, pointing out that it was attended exclusively by majority members.
He highlighted that the emergency sitting’s unusual venue and timing conflicted with the committee’s regular schedule.
According to him, the committee meeting should have been rescheduled to accommodate the Parliament session.
He added that the chairman of the committee decided to proceed with the meeting despite the scheduling conflict, leading the Minority to prioritize the emergency Parliament session over the committee meeting.
“Together with our leadership, we have decided to attach seriousness to the emergency recall that has been done on us and to stay here and do business, and that is why you may realize later on that the committee meeting is made up of only members of the majority.”