Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency and former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Inusah Fuseini, has argued that the conduct of the Minority Leader at the ECOWAS Parliament, as was reported to the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament on November 11, 2025, by the Majority Leader, is a sign of decline in parliamentary leadership.
The former Member of Parliament argued that given the responsibility vested in the office of leadership, both majority and minority, it requires that occupants of these offices must guide the Speaker of the august house in steering the affairs of parliament and must therefore avoid any conduct that brings the dignity and sanctity of parliament into disrepute, given that they ought to “ensure that the sanctity, dignity, and respect for Parliament is maintained at all times.”
“A leader of the House would not ordinarily bring himself within the ambit of the law to excite or motivate another member of Parliament to raise a matter of breach of conduct or parliamentary privilege by that leader.
“Because you have to lead and set the example. So, where the leader refuses, fails, or neglects to set that example, then he opens himself to the complaint, like the complaint filed by Honorable Mahama Ayariga.”
Honorable Inusah Fuseini, Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency
On the floor of parliament on November 11, 2025, the Majority Leader, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, reported to the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, on how the Minority Leader, Hon. Kwamena Alexander Afenyo-Markin, “misconducted himself,” as he showed up at the ECOWAS Parliamentary meeting in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, knowing well that his name had been taken out of the delegation that was supposed to represent Ghana’s parliament.
The Majority Leader stated that due to the conduct of the Minority Leader, Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament was sidelined as proceedings went on.
He therefore reported to the Speaker that the Minority Leader’s conduct constitutes a breach of parliamentary privileges, praying the Speaker to refer him to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for assessment and appropriation of the appropriate sanctions as the law deems fit.
Honorable Inusah Fuseini explained that the delegation from Ghana’s Parliament to the ECOWAS Parliament constitutes a committee of parliament just like other committees of parliament, which is put together by the committee responsible for setting up parliamentary committees.
To the extent that this committee is set up by the parliamentary committee responsible for putting together parliamentary committees and subsequently “adapted by a resolution of Parliament” at the plenary, Hon. Fuseini noted that the committee, the delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, is considered an “act of Parliament” whose authority cannot be challenged, as it will constitute one having to challenge the authority of Parliament.
The former Member of Parliament further argued that Members of Parliament ought to know all these processes and must, under no circumstances, attempt to breach an ‘act of Parliament’ of that nature, adding that it is even more concerning for a leader of a caucus to have allegedly acted in breach of this ‘act.’
“For a leader of a caucus to willfully disobey the authority of Parliament and actually take steps to manifest that disobedience is a serious matter. It’s a serious matter.
“It’s just like in criminal jurisprudence, in criminal law, where a member of Parliament breaches a provision of a law that he himself, or by virtue of his position or status as a member of Parliament, is by inference responsible for the passage of the law, and then goes out of his way to breach the law. I mean, his punishment becomes harder.”
Honorable Inusah Fuseini, Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency
Hon. Fuseini emphasized that the Majority Leader reporting the Minority Leader to the speaker should not be linked to the events of the Appointments Committee that took place a day before, even though the proximity of time may suggest so, explaining that they are two different things.
He further explained that while the Appointments Committee events were “triggered by Article 144, clause 1 of the constitution,” the Majority Leader’s report on the conduct of the Minority Leader at the ECOWAS Parliament “is on the basis of the standard orders of Parliament,” which has to do with “challenging the authority of Parliament, which is an affront to the dignity of Parliament.”
“If a leader of the House conducts himself this way, I mean, you don’t expect him to have any sympathy from his colleague, the other leader.
“I’m sure if the majority leader has also conducted himself in a way that affronts the dignity and authority of Parliament, you do not expect him to have any sympathy from the minority leader, and vice versa.”
Honorable Inusah Fuseini, Former Member of Parliament for Tamale Central Constituency
Hon. Fuseini therefore emphasized that if indeed, things transpired at the ECOWAS Parliament just as the Majority Leader reported, then the appropriate measures must be taken by the Speaker and the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to hold the Minority Leader to account for his alleged misconduct.
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