The Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Haruna Mohammed, has defended the Minority’s decision to boycott the ad-hoc committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to probe the chaotic incident at last week Thursday’s vetting.
This follows Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who instructed his fellow Members of Parliament not to participate in the ongoing probing exercise by the ad-hoc committee.
Mr Mohammed explained that boycotts and absenteeism from committees have always been allowed in our constitutional jurisprudence.
In an interview on JoyFM’s Top Story on Wednesday, February 5, Mr Mohammed noted that the suspension of ad-hoc committee hearings will force the Speaker of Parliament to build consensus among legislators.
“We, as a party and our Minority in Parliament, believe in the right process, due process, and also through consensus building. I believe that what has happened today and the subsequent suspension of the sitting of this particular committee will lead the Speaker to call both sides of the House for a discussion and consensus building,” he said.
He expressed confidence that leadership from both sides will eventually engage in dialogue to reach a solution that upholds the Standing Orders of Parliament and the Constitution.
“Parliamentary business has always been on consensus, and that is why we have always strived as a nation to get to where we are today. This is not the end of the story, but I believe that parliamentary business can still go on while the Speaker and the leadership confer and get a better solution out of that. But we believe that the constitutional process or the Standing Orders must be made to work, and that is what the Minority will rely on.”
Mr Mohammed insisted that parliamentary proceedings must follow due process, expressing concerns over the legitimacy of the current committee investigating recent events in Parliament.
He argued that the committee in question was formed without proper constitutional backing and described its establishment as an “illegality.”
“We consider that particular committee as an illegality because we have maintained that the Speaker’s decision to suspend the four Members of Parliament was not based on any statute or constitutional provision,” he stressed.
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