The Member of Parliament for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has criticized the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, for approving a motion by Haruna Iddrisu that called for four Members of Parliament to vacate their seats, describing the decision as unconstitutional.
In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show with host Bernard Avle on Citi FM, Friday, October 18, Afenyo-Markin argued that Speaker Bagbin does not have the legal authority to make such a ruling, as no law grants him the power to compel MPs to vacate their seats.
“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?”
Bagbin’s ruling affected Cynthia Mamle Morrison, NPP MP for Agona West, Kwadjo Asante, NPP MP for Suhum, Peter Kwakye-Ackah, NDC MP for Amenfi Central, and Andrew Amoako Asiamah independent member for Fomena who has rejoined the NPP ahead of the 2024 elections.
Afenyo-Markin added that the Speaker should have referred the contentious matter to a committee for deliberations before a final ruling.
According to him, the hasty determination has brought confusion, which he said will affect parliamentary business until it is resolved.
“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.”