Pollster, Ben ephson, has hailed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, for challenging the decision by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin to refer three New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs to the Privilege’s Committee of Parliament.
In the view of Mr. Ephson , the action of Muntaka is an indication that Ghana’s democracy has been deepened.
Speaker Bagbin during proceedings on Tuesday April 5 referred the NPP MPs after receiving a petition against them for absenting themselves from Parliament without permission for more than fifteen sittings.
The MPs are Kennedy Agyapong for Assin Central, Sarah Adwoa Safo for Dome Kwabenya and Henry Quartey for Ayawaso Central, who is also the Greater Accra Regional Minister.
But Mr. Muntaka, who is an NDC MP, contested the Speaker’s ruling and said if the decision is allowed to stand, it will set a dangerous precedent which can be used by a “dictator speaker” in future to hurt lawmakers.
“If we allow this to stand it will become precedent, tomorrow it may hurt all of us” he said.
But replying to Muntaka’s submission, the Speaker defended his decision saying “you don’t want the speaker to be a dictator but you are prepared to create room for committees to be dictators. When the committee decides then that is it”.
Reacting to the situation on 3FM’s Sunrise on Wednesday hosted by Alfred Ocansey, Mr. Ephson noted that “you cannot sacrifice the rules and regulations of a big institution like Parliament for the partisan sake”.
“Muntaka believes he [Speaker] is doing the wrong thing and it is good for Ghana’s democracy. I think Muntaka has done very well”.
By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|editors.3news.com|Ghana
