The Member of Parliament of Old-Tafo constituency, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah, Esq. has described as a dangerous precedent, a move by Speaker Bagbin to suspend 4 Members of Parliament.
In an interview on Kumasi-based Pure FM with Kwame Adinkrah on Monday, February 3, 2024, Hon. Assafuah berated the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, for treating the House like a headmaster-student affairs.
He described the speaker as using subservient laws to topple constitutional provisions which is unacceptable.
“Kwame, in Ghana we practice constitutional supremacy not Speakership Supremacy.
Speaker suspending 4 MPs is a dangerous precedent and alien to Parliamentary processes.
Order 130 of the new standing orders gives power to the House to pronounce suspension, not the Speaker.”
“The Speaker has no role in calling for a member of parliament to be suspended. He is using subservient laws to topple constitutional provisions and he must be called out.” He intimated.
Background
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, on January 31, 2025, suspended four Members of Parliament (MPs) from the sittings of the House for two weeks following their alleged role in an altercation that led to some destruction of parliamentary properties.
The affected MPs are the Majority Chief Whip and MP for South Dayi, Rockson Nelson Dafeamakpor; the Minority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annor-Dompreh; the MP for Gushiegu, Alhassan Sulemana Tampuuli, and the MP for Weija-Gbawe, Jerry Ahmed Shaib.
The Speaker said the conduct of the four MPs had seriously undermined the credibility of Parliament and urgent punitive action had to be taken against them.
Source: Purefmonline.com || Evans Osei-Bonsu || 2025
