By Samuel Atta Akyea, the Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, has called upon the Speaker of Parliament to apologize to President Akufo-Addo for halting the confirmation process of newly nominated ministers.
Akyea contended that the Speaker’s decision stemmed from factual inaccuracies.
The former Housing Minister stressed that Speaker Bagbin should recognize his errors and act in accordance with honor.
During an interview with Citi FM on Thursday, March 21, Mr. Atta Akyea emphasized the importance of the Speaker exercising caution in such instances, highlighting the significant role the Speaker plays in the governance of the country.
“The speaker again does something which is very frightening. The speaker comes out to say that in equal measure as you are respecting the injunctive processes in the Supreme Court, I will also not attend to your nominees and aid you to have them passed for the simple reason that I also have an injunction at the instance of honourable Dafeamekpor pending before the Supreme Court.
“It turns out that that is not true. That is a very serious matter for the simple reason that at the level of intellectual evidence of the speaker, such fundamental errors cannot be committed.”
“So I am of the humble view that when men of renown see palpable errors on their part they should buckle and probably say ‘I am sorry, I think I was misled’. So that the business of government will not come to an unfortunate halt because of an obvious error coming from the Speaker.”
“So, I believe that if I were Mr Speaker, I would eat humble pie and say that the foundation of my action is not valid. There is no injunction restraining Parliament from considering the nominees of the president. Because the Dafeamekpor case relates to a different matter altogether,” Mr. Akyea said.
Parliament, on Wednesday, March 20, halted the vetting process for the nomination of Ministers and Deputy Ministers of State by President Akufo-Addo following an interlocutory injunction filed at the Supreme Court by MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor.
In his closing remarks to the House before adjourning on Wednesday, Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin attributed the suspension of the vetting process to the lawsuit, stating that it rendered Parliament unable to proceed with the nominations.
“Hon Members, I also bring to your attention, the receipt of a process from the Courts titled Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor vrs. The Speaker of Parliament and the Attorney-General ( Suit no. J1/12/2024) which process was served on the 19th of March 2024 and an injunction motion on notice seeking to restrain the Speaker from proceeding with the vetting and approval of the names of the persons submitted by His Excellency the President until the provisions of the constitution are satisfied.”
However, the Abuakwa South lawmaker has rebuked him for his conduct.
