A former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansa-Asare, has described as “unruly”, the behaviour of Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, on recent developments in Parliament.
The Majority Leader, as he describes, is someone who carries the whole nation with the conscience of the majority of the people, and therefore expects him to act maturely when “there is a burning issue” in Parliament.
According to the private legal practitioner, Afenyo-Markin’s resort to attacking Speaker Bagbin and calling him names is unworthy of his position as leader of the Majority in the House.
He says there is no way a Speaker will “wreak havoc on a nati on” as the Effutu lawmaker ascribed to the Speaker, demanding that he apologises to the entire nation.
Speaking on Hot Issues on TV3 Sunday, November 10, 2024, Mr. Ansa-Asare indicated that the attitude put up by the Majority Leader in the past few weeks will remain a scar on the conscience of Ghana.
“The Majority leader of Minority leader should apologise to the whole nation not even the Speaker but to the nation because what he has done will forever remain a scar on the conscience of the nation. This is the first time that I’m seeing such an unruly behaviour on the part of Majority leader,” he stated.
Speaker Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, on Thursday, November 07, 2024, adjourned the House indefinitely for the second time, following an earlier one on Tuesday, October 22, when in both instances, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) members boycotted sitting.
This was because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) members had taken the seats on the right hand of the Speaker after claiming to be majority.
The NPP MPs, who also insisted they are majority boycotted the House with the Speaker having no option than to adjourn Parliament for lack of quorum in the first instance.
During the last sitting where he adjourned the House again, the Business Committee could not present any agenda for discussion forcing him to end proceedings and adjourn sitting sine dine.
The controversy, stems from a ruling the Speaker made on Thursday, October 17, where he declared some four seats vacant because their occupants have chosen to do business with different political parties or contest as independent candidates in the upcoming elections.
The ruling was stayed by the Supreme Court bringing confusion over who currently occupies majority or minority in the House.
