General Secretary hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Frederick Opare Ansah, has criticised the decision of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to refer three Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Privileges Committee for absenteeism.
According to him, the Speaker’s decision was not in the right direction insisting that the Speaker has no business to initiate such move because he is not an MP.
The three MPs – Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP for Dome-Kwabenya; Henry Quartey, MP for Ayawaso Central and Kennedy Agyapong, MP for Assin Central, were referred to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves from the House for 15 sittings without any written permission to the Speaker.
However, Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak opposed the Speaker’s decision on the floor of parliament explaining that the Standing Orders of the House demand that any application must be considered when it is brought forward by an MP.
Reacting to the development on the Anopa Bofoↄ morning show hosted by Kofi Adoma Nwanwani on Angel FM, Mr. Opare Ansah stated that the Speaker has no mandate to raise a quorum himself and thus proceed to do referral to the privileges committee.
“The Speaker is not an MP, he’s the Speaker of Parliament and no power gives him the mandate in the standing orders or the Constitution that he can raised a complained and proceed to refer it to the privileges committee”
“It doesn’t matter the circumstance, whether it is normal or abnormal, the fact is, the law is the law and rules of the Parliament remains the rules of parliament” he noted.
The former Member of Parliament for Suhum Constituency, observed that though the Speaker has the ability to communicate concerns to the House with Standing Order 53 Of The Parliamentary Proceedings, the decision of what Parliament does “is not the Speakers business.”
The NPP stalwart schooled that, the Speaker’s mandate is to superintend over the affairs of the House to preside by way of ensuring that Parliamentarians have the opportunity to debate issues and then take decisions.
Citing Standing Order 48 Of The Parliamentary Proceedings, which says only Parliamentarians has the capacity to raise quorum, Mr. Opare Ansah mentioned that neither should Alban Bagbin’s behavior be encouraged or entertained in order to prevent any Speaker from acting “whimsically and capriciously” in the future.
“If we begin to allow people to behave the way they want because in their view circumstances are abnormal, one day, you will have somebody who will concoct his mind what is an abnormal circumstance and do something that is not right” the former Minority Chief Whip warned.
