By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase Constituency in the Ashanti Region of Ghana who has been a member of the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and the 8th Parliaments of the 4th Republic of Ghana, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka is said to have filed a motion calling for the referral of three absentee MPs, Madam Sarah Adwoa Safo, Dome-Kwabenya MP, Mr. Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, MP for Assin Central and the current Greater Accra regional minister and MP for Ayawaso Central, Mr. Henry Quartey, to the Parliament’s Privileges Committee for absenting themselves for more than 15 sittings days to be reversed.
Alhaji Mubarak in the motion called on Parliament “to revoke, cancel or rescind the referral made by the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, on April, 5, 2022, to the Committee on Privileges to consider the issue of absence without permission from the House under Article 97 (1) (c) of the 1992 Republican Constitution and Standing Orders of Parliament, Orders 15 and 16.”
While referring the three MPs to the Committee, the Speaker of Parliament, said the absence of the MPs without his permission constitutes a breach of the rules of the House.
In Parliament on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, the Rt. Hon. Bagbin urged members of the Committee chaired by the Second Deputy Speaker to provide its report to the plenary two weeks after the Parliament reconvenes.
A former MP for Kumbumgu, Ras Mubarak, petitioned the Speaker of Parliament to tackle absenteeism in Parliament.
In his petition, he mentioned Dome-Kwabenya MP, Sarah Adwoa Safo; Henry Quartey, the MP for Ayawaso Central, and Ebenezer Kojo Kum, the MP for Ahanta West and Ken Ohene Agyapong, MP for Assin Central as MPs who he said had flouted provisions of Article 97(1)(c) of the Constitution.
He also said they had breached 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, a Member of Parliament 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”.
