Accra, May 25, GNA – The Privileges Committee of Parliament is set to hold a crucial meeting to determine the modalities for its sittings regarding the matter of three absentee Members of Parliament.
The Committee after its sitting on Wednesday has two weeks to present a report to the house on the referral from Mr Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, on Madam Sarah Adwoa Safo, Member of Parliament (MP) Dome Kwabenya MP; Mr Henry Quartey, MP Ayawaso Central MP and Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP Assin Central MP, for absenting themselves for more than fifteen days from Parliament without permission during the first meeting of the second session of the 8th Parliament.
Ranking Member on the Committee, Mr Kweku Ricketts Hagan, on Wednesday at Parlaiment outlined the activities of the Committee as follows:
“On the 26th of May, we will meet with Henry Quartey, the 27th of May will be the turn of Adwoa Safo, and then on the 31st of May, we will meet with Kennedy Agyapong.
“We will discuss the modalities at today’s meeting,” he said.
Mr Ras Mubarak, a former MP for Kumbungu, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to deal with the matter of absenteeism in the House.
He cited Madam Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP Dome-Kwabenya; Mr Henry Quartey, MP for Ayawaso Central; Mr Ebenezer Kojo Kum, MP for Ahanta West and Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central as MPs whom according to him had flouted provisions of Article 97(1)(c) of the Constitution and Parliament’s Standing Order 16(1) which frowns on Members absenting themselves for 15 sitting days without permission from the Speaker.
Per Article 97(1)(c) of the 1992 Constitution an MP shall vacate his seat “if he is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker, and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges from fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet.”
The petition was therefore copied to the leadership of both sides of the House.
Mr Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, Minority Chief Whip, said, according to Parliament’s Hansard, four New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs had flouted the rule on absenteeism and should be made to appear before the Privileges Committee of the House.
GNA