Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on Members of Parliament who do not desire to be victimized in any way to do the needful by making appearances at parliamentary proceedings.
Mr Ablakwa revealed that the Speaker, Alban Bagbin, is mandated to act in the capacity to call MPs to order, even if it means referring them to a committee. He debunked the notion and the “morbid fear” that the House may sometime in the future have an “authoritarian Speaker” who wants to probably victimise particular Members of Parliament.
“If you don’t want to be victimized as an MP, come to work, just attend proceedings. So, if you miss 15 sittings I mean, I won’t call that victimization if a Speaker on his own decides to refer your conduct to the Privileges Committee”.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
The North Tongu legislator noted that the constitution of parliament permits members who have legitimate concerns for missing proceedings to follow the right medium. This, he explained, when followed will avoid any form of ‘headbutting’, as the Speaker will act as his responsibilities dictate.
“If you are punctual, you’re diligent with your work, or if there is a true emergency, the law provides under Article 97 (1) (c) that seek permission. So, if you didn’t seek permission and you made no effort to bring whatever emergency situation [that] is happening to you to the Speaker, to leadership of the House, and then a Speaker decides to take you on, I don’t see how we can describe that Speaker as a dictator or authoritarian somebody who is mean and doesn’t like MPs. I think that would rather be a good Speaker who we should encourage to have many more years down the lane in the future”.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Mr Ablakwa expressed that a Speaker cannot deliberately declare a Parliamentary seat vacant without referring the matter to the Privileges Committee. He emphasized that the “principles of natural justice” would prevail and see to it that the MP is given a fair hearing.
The Privileges Committee, Mr Ablakwa highlighted, must come in and “you must be heard”. He indicated that the MP will be heard to ascertain if there’s any “justification” for his or her truancy.
“If you look at Article 97 (1) (c), it says that the Privileges Committee must come in. The Privileges Committee is specifically mentioned; it’s one of the few instances where the Privileges Committee is mentioned in the Constitution. So, no Speaker no matter how dictatorial, no matter how scary that Speaker may be, he cannot on his own just pronounce that this MP is out [and] we are going for a bye-election next week. You cannot do that”.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
Reversal of MPs dragged before the Privileges Committee
Commenting on the position taken by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, to have the three MPs referred to the Privileges Committee reversed, Mr Ablakwa revealed that he acted as an individual and not a representative of the Minority Caucus. He noted that the Minority is yet to meet to discuss the issue and take a common stance on the matter.
“Let me state that first of all, the position taken by the Honourable Muntaka Mubarak is largely a personal position. We haven’t caucused on this. I haven’t been invited to any caucus meeting where we have discussed it and taken a common position. So, at this point it is an action which is solely in the name of Muntaka Mubarak. So, if you studied that motion carefully, you’d notice that he signs on his behalf and he leaves it there, he does not drag in the entire caucus”.
Muntaka Mubarak
It will be recalled that the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, filed a motion challenging the Speaker’s authority to refer three MPs of the House to the Privileges Committee suo moto. He emphasized that the Speaker does not have the authority to refer MPs to the Privileges Committee without an application first coming from a Member of the House or any other person the Standing Orders deem fit.
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