Leadership in Parliament to determine Agyen’s fate
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, has referred the contempt case brought against the member for Effiduase-Asokore, Mr Frank Boakye Agyen, to the leadership of the House for determination on which path to chart.
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Under normal circumstances, the Speaker would have referred the matter to the Privileges Committee and from his earlier statements, it was clear that he was proceeding in that direction but the consistent pleas by the Leader of the Minority, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu (NPP, Suame) and the Leader of the Majority, Dr Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor (NDC, Nandom) to have the matter settled behind closed doors, clearly influenced him.
After listening to them, he said he was “putting the referral in abeyance” and asked the leadership to “look into the matter and make proposals on how to go about it”.
As part of its task, the leadership is also to determine the truth or otherwise of the allegations levelled against the Speaker by Mr Agyen.
The intervention
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had said Parliament was a House where concensus building was necessary to carry out business and in order for the issue not to degenerate into partisanship, a forum should be created chaired by Mr Adjaho with the two deputy speakers, the majority and minority leaders and Mr Agyen present to have the matter amicably resolved “behind the curtain”.
“I believe this will be a good option for us just so that we are able to hold this House together,” he said
Dr Kunbuor, for his part, said he had listened to the tape containing the statements and was livid about the contents.
He quoted Standing Order 30 (h) of Parliament and said the member had breached that order.
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Order 30 (h) states: “Publication of false, perverted, misleading, distorted, fabricated or scandalous reports, books, libels reflecting on the proceedings of Parliament shall constitute a breach of privileges or contempt of Parliament.”
Dr Kunbuor said Mr Agyen indeed crossed the red line and cautioned members that in attempting to score cheap political points, they could be overzealous and make false statements.
He, however, agreed with Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu that a different forum be created to address the problem in order to keep the integrity of the House intact.
He made reference to the many allegations the Minority group had put out in the media, including one which stated that the Majority members had received bribes of GH¢5,000 and GH¢10,000 each to thwart efforts to investigate the deal and said no member on the Majority side received any bribe.
Background
On January 6, this year, Mr Adjaho dismissed a private member’s motion filed by the member for Bimbilla, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, requesting Parliament to investigate the offer and acquisition of Merchant Bank by Fortiz Equity Fund Limited and other matters.
In his 15-minute ruling, he said since the case was currently before a competent court, any discussion in the House would prejudice the case before the court.
He, therefore, ruled the motion filed by Mr Nitiwul “Out of order”.
Mr Agyen, a few days later, is said to have, on a programme on Joy FM, alleged that Mr Adjaho would have ruled in favour of the Minority group and was actually in the process of doing so until the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Hanna Tetteh, intervened.
He is alleged to have said that just when Mr Adjaho began proceeding in a direction which clearly pointed to the fact that he agreed with the Minority, Ms Tetteh rose from her seat and whispered something into the ear of the Speaker.
What Ms Tetteh whispered, he alleged, was a message from certain persons in government, a situation which led the Speaker to adjourn for an hour to reconsider his decision.
But the Majority Chief Whip and member for Asawase, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak (NDC), who was on the same programme with Mr Agyen, found the statements contemptuous of the House and initiated contempt proceedings against the member.
Adjaho’s views
At Wednesday’s sitting, Mr Adjaho said he had listened to the tape and read the transcripts of the statement made by Mr Agyen and was of the view that the statements sought to “attack the integrity and dignity of the Chair”.
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“It is not about my person,” he said.
He said since his days as First Deputy Speaker, he had held the view that speech should not be criminalised and had been reluctant to refer such matters to the Privileges Committee “but where the Chair is being accused of being influenced, it seems to have crossed the redline”.
He said if Parliament did not delve into the issue, the slur cast on the Speaker would undermine the authority of the House.
“I have had consultations with the leadership of the House on the issue and I do not want it to be politicised. It must go to the Privileges Committee. We want to find out whether it is contemptuous of the House or not so that we will be guided accordingly,” he said.
According to Mr Adjaho, he was not interested in “crucifying” anybody and did not seek to criminalise free speech “but the truth of the matter must be found”.
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What others said
The member for Sekondi, Papa Owusu Ankomah (NPP), urged the Speaker to defer further discussions on the matter and take time to determine whether the pleas made by Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in particular was worth considering.
Mr Mahama Ayarigah (NDC, Bawku Central) appealed that copies of the transcripts and the tape be made available to members to enable them to debate the issue based on what exactly Mr Agyen said.
He noted that not every MP listened to the interview on Joy FM and, therefore, many could be speaking from a position of ignorance.
Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak (NDC, Asawase), reminded members that apart from the Speaker, a colleague MP and a clerk were named in the allegations and said whatever path the House wanted to chart on the issue should determine the truth about what exactly transpired on that day.
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Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, in response to the bribery statement made by Dr Kunbuor, stated that no member from the minority side during negotiations on the Vodafone deal a few years ago received $5,000 bribe either.