The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has threatened to summon the Transport Minister, Mr. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, to the Privileges Committee if he refuses to honour invitations to respond to questions in the House again.
“I am tempted to refer his conduct to the Privileges Committee, but because of the intervention of leadership, I will resist that temptation. I will not refer him to the Privileges Committee for today.
“But the next conduct tantamount to this behaviour will be referred to the Privileges Committee,” Speaker Bagbin said.
Mr. Bagbin’s comments follow Mr. Ofori Asiamah’s refusal to appear before the House to respond to nine questions contained in the Order Paper of Tuesday June 21, 2022, an action which was heavily condemned by the Chief Whip of the Minority, Mr. Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.
Parliament’s Standing Order 60 charges ministers to appear before the House to respond to questions when they are called upon to do so.
“Ministers shall by order of the House, be requested to attend sittings of the House to answer question asked of them,” Order 60 states.
Minister Ofori Asiamah, on the morning when he was suppose to appear before the House, sent a letter through the Acting Chief Director of his Ministry that he could not honour the request due to some unavoidable reasons.
This excuse did not sit well with Speaker Bagbin, hence, the caution to the Minister.
Justifying why he would refer the Minister to the Privileges Committee, Speaker Bagbin stated Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, which describes acts that impedes the work of the House as contempt, and such should be referred to the Privileges Committee according to Parliament’s Standing Order 31.
“An act or omission which obstructs or impedes Parliament in the performance of its functions or which obstructs or impedes a member or officer of Parliament in the discharge of his duties, or affronts the dignity of Parliament or which tends produce that result, is contempt of Parliament,” Article 122 states, while Order 30 states that “In all cases of proceedings where complaint is made of a breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament, Mr. Speaker may direct that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.”
The Speaker intimated that the only reason he would not refer the Minister to the Committee now was because leadership of the House had testified about how the Minister used to be one of the few who would usually honour the House’s invitation with regards to answering questions.
“…The Minister is one of those who used to be very punctual in responding to questions asked by members, but of late his conduct seems to be negating all the gains he made in the House.”
Speaker Bagbin also complained about the habit of ministers who wait to notify the House of their inability to honour invitations at the eleventh hour to desist from such acts.
He said the House would not tolerate the flimsy excuses of ministers being “unavoidably absence” again.
He indicated that Parliament goes by its Orders of ensuring that ministers were notified on time, and expect ministers to do same if they would not be able to attend to the House.
Meanwhile, the Chief Whip of the Majority, Mr. Frank Annor-Dompreh, has called on the Minister to allow Parliament to name and shame his colleagues who refuse to attend to the House to respond to questions.
He said some ministers do well in honouring the House’s invitation, and testified on how the Transport Minister used to honour the House’s invitation, and pleaded that some should be spared the shame.
“It is high time we name and shame. There are those who usually appear before the House to respond to questions, so let’s not box all of them.”
