Former Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, has revealed that members of parliament have no business complaining about the Speaker, Alban Bagbin’s procedures in referring three NPP MPs to the Privilege’s Committee for absenting themselves without permission.
Mr Mubarak indicated that the rules of the House are clear, as such, if some MPs disagree with the “Speaker’s directive”, they can seek redress. He explained that the Speaker is the “arbiter” and he is “clothed with the powers” to issue directives in parliament. Justifying his stance, he noted that the Speaker, who has served in parliament for 28 years, has “enormous experience” in terms of practices and procedures of parliament.
“MPs have no business complaining about the speaker’s procedure. They have had all the time and the opportunity to call out their colleagues who are breaking the laws of the country and they didn’t show the backbone to be able to do that”.
Ras Mubarak
Mr Mubarak intimated that the image of Parliament has sunk so low and that the situation presents an opportunity to redeem Parliament’s “sunken image”. He expressed surprise at the attempt by some Members of Parliament to fault the procedure adopted by the Speaker.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has commended the Speaker for “commencing action” against all three absentee MPs. Contained in a Facebook post made today, April 5, 2022, he indicated that following his research, the provisions of the 1992 Constitution under Article 97 must apply without discrimination.
“Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey must face the same music. It is my hope, as I remarked on the floor of Parliament today that the House shall be guided by the 11th December, 2008, Prof. Kwaku Asare’s radical decision by the Court of Appeal”.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Privileges Committee must submit report
Elsewhere, Member of Parliament for Wa Central, Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, has requested that reports from the Privileges Committee on the three MPs must be submitted to the House for deliberation and subsequent action taken.
He explained that all reports come to the House from committees in the form of a motion and the motion is debated, and a stance is taken. Owing to this, he iterated the need for the committee to submit the report to the House.
“The committee can’t be an independent committee from parliament. The committee would have to submit the report and if the report of the committee says that the individual members who came before them have not been able to explain and must leave the House, then we will go by that. But that will depend on how much convincing they can be with members of parliament”.
Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo
Speaker, Alban Bagbin, on Tuesday April 5, 2022, referred three NPP MPs to the Privileges Committee after receiving a petition against them for absenting themselves from Parliament without permission for more than fifteen sittings. The MPs are Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin Central; Sarah Adwoa Safo MP for Dome Kwabenya and Henry Quartey, MP for Ayawaso Central.
Following the Speaker’s directive, the Asawase legislator, Muntaka Mubarak, contested his ruling and opined that if the decision is allowed to stand, it will set a dangerous precedent which can be used by a “dictator Speaker” in future to hurt lawmakers.
In reaction, the Speaker defended his decision, insisting that the matter is before the House and not just before the Committee. As such, he cannot “come and sit here to declare a seat vacant without following a procedure”.
READ ALSO: Majority Leader Announces Adwoa Safo’s Conduct to be Referred to Privileges Committee
