Afenyo-Markin slams Speaker's ruling as unconstitutional

Accra, Ghana - October 18, 2024 - Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has been criticized by Effutu MP Alexander Afenyo-Markin for approving a motion that compelled four lawmakers to vacate their seats.

Afenyo-Markin slammed the decision as unconstitutional, arguing that Bagbin exceeded his legal authority.

During an interview on Citi FM's Citi Breakfast Show, Afenyo-Markin emphasized that the Speaker lacks the mandate to make such rulings, citing Order 93 of Parliament's rules book. He questioned why Bagbin disregarded Haruna Iddrisu's notice of motion, which should have been referred to a committee for deliberation.

The affected MPs include Cynthia Mamle Morrison (Agona West), Kwadjo Asante (Suhum), Peter Kwakye-Ackah (Amenfi Central), and Andrew Amoako Asiamah (Fomena), who recently rejoined the NPP.

Afenyo-Markin asserted that the hasty ruling has created confusion, impacting parliamentary business until resolved.

“The speaker has no such mandate to make a ruling on a statement under Order 93. In our rules book, when a statement is made, members are allowed to make comments and if Mr Speaker after the comments, wants to make consequential orders, he refers the thing to a committee and Order 93(6) is very clear and we drew his attention to this and so he had no such power to make a ruling on a statement and it has never happened and it is not part of our rules.

“If an applicant wants a matter to be determined, it comes by way of a motion. Now, one will wonder why Mr. Speaker decided to set aside Haruna Iddrisu’s notice of motion or the matter to be determined?”

“When someone serves a notice, your duty is to admit it and a committee will go through the motion and he has created a whole confusion and I don’t know to what end and don’t know what has become of the motion.

“The speaker was just in a rush to create confusion. I told him he could not do that and the Hansard is my witness and he wanted to have a banter with me but I vowed not to go that way with him.”

Source: Lead News Online