Majority leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has faulted Speaker of Parliament Alban S.K. Bagbin for saying plenary will vote on the report of the Privileges Committee after it completes is work on some three ‘absentee’ Members of Parliament (MPs).
According to him, if the Committee establishes that any of the three indeed absented himself or herself beyond the days allowed without reasonable justification, such person automatically relinquishes his or her seat in Parliament.
The seat, he said, will become vacant as a result of the conduct of the member.
He stated the decision of the Committee will not be referred back to plenary for scrutiny, deliberation or pronouncement and stressed such course of action is not indented in the 1992 Constitution.
Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps last Friday on the referral of three members of the Majority side namely Sarah Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong and Henry Quartey to the Privileges Committee for absenting themselves from Parliament for more than the 15 days threshold without permission.
Speaker Alban Bagbin made the referral on April 5, 2022 after a petition from a member of the public, citing records in the Parliamentary Votes and Proceedings.
He explained that based on the relevant provisions of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, the named NPP lawmakers are guilty of the absenteeism threshold for Members of Parliament.
The Speaker further directed the Privileges Committee to report back to the House for appropriate action to be taken.
However, commenting on this directive, Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said, “I disagree with the Speaker when he said that after some conclusions have been arrived at after investigations by the Committee, those conclusions will be submitted to Plenary, which will not debate the report but will be for the information of Parliament and that Plenary will vote on the recommendation.”
He added that, “We disagree with the speaker because this is a constitutional provision and the Constitution provides that when such a determination is made by the Committee, in this case the Privileges Committee and the Committee establishes that any of the three MPs had no reasonable cause to have absented himself or her, then that is the end of it.
“If the Committee comes to the conclusion that particular person, apart from the fact that he or she had absented himself or herself for more than 15 Sitting days, without any justification for that absence, then, per the Constitution, a vacancy shall fall or there shall be a vacancy ensuing from that conduct of the person.”
According to the Majority Leader, per the Constitution, an MP shall vacate his seat in Parliament if they are absent without permission of the Speaker for more than 15 Sitting days of a meeting and is not able to offer a reasonable explanation for the absence.
He averred that in the case of the Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Agyapong and Henry Quartey, the Committee will establish the reasonability of the absence and if it determines the explanation, they offer makes no sense that will be the end of the matter.
“That will be end of it. It doesn’t come to Plenary for a vote on it or for deliberation on the floor of the House,” he added.
