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Greater Accra Regional Organiser of the National Democratic Congress, Anthony Nukpenu has said that declaring seats of absentee Members of Parliament vacant would not be a prudent action.
According to him the Electoral Commission (EC) would have to conduct a bye-election to select new legislators to occupy the seats of Dome-Kwabenya MP, Ayawaso Central MP and Assin Central MP when they are finally declared vacant.
He posited that the constitution does not bar the absentee legislators from contesting their seats again and should they recontest and win in the bye-election, it would be a waste of state resources.
This comes after the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, referred Sarah Adwoa Safo, Henry Quartey and Kennedy Agyapong to the Privileges Committee for being absent from 15 sittings of the house.
The referral follows a petition from former MP for Kumbumgu, Ras Mubarak, who stated that the three lawmakers have flouted provisions of Article 97(1)(c) of the Constitution.
But Member of Parliament for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak has challenged the Speaker’s referral decision saying it will be a dangerous precedent that can be abused by a dictatorial speaker in future.
“If we allow this to stand it will become precedent, tomorrow it may hurt all of us,” he bemoaned.
Supporting Muntaka Mubarak’s stance, Anthony Nukpenu said “in the process, if they are declared vacant then the Electoral Commission must go into full action to conduct a bye-election. The question is: is it prudent?”
Advancing arguments to support his position, he said bye-elections are expensive in Ghana and are usually associated with thuggery which he believes would cause more harm than the good intended.
“We have been witnesses to what bye-elections have done in this country and the expensive nature of bye-elections…the tension in the country today, will it be a good platform?”
While admitting that the referral is a parliamentary process and there is no straight forward solution to the challenge at hand, he proposed that other parliamentary processes should be used to address the problem.
Mr. Nukpenu concluded his argument that “it is not straight jacket that when you absent yourself for 15 sittings, you lose your seat.”
He added that the absentee MPs may be pardoned if they are able to prove to the Privilege’s Committee that they were ill within the period they stayed away from parliament.
Meanwhile Muntaka Mubarak has filed a motion calling for the referral of three MPs, Sarah Adwoa Safo, Henry Quartey, and Kennedy Agyepong, to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves for over 15 sittings to be reversed.
