The Minority in Parliament has dissociated itself from the arrangements of the Privileges Committee of Parliament to conduct contempt public hearings against Assin Central Member of Parliament (MP), Kennedy Agyapong.
According to a member of the committee, Alhaji A. B. A. Fuseini, the chairman of the Committee, Joe Osei Owusu took a unilateral decision to conduct a preliminary virtual meeting on Zoom without their consent.
In view of that decision, they argue that they do not recognise any resolution reached at the end of that meeting.
“The privileges committee did not meet today. What happened was that the chairman of the committee, the Honourable first deputy Speaker, insisted that the committee meets via Zoom and this was the maiden meeting of the committee. And we indicated respectfully that since it was the maiden meeting of the committee it will be more appropriate for the members to meet physically, so we can get to know each other. To the best of my understanding, the majority of the members opted for a face-to-face meeting, but the first Deputy Speaker, unfortunately, failed us woefully on this occasion.”
“As far as we are concerned, no date has been fixed because we were not a part of the said meeting. This was supposed to be a maiden meeting.”
The Privileges Committee of Parliament after a virtual meeting on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, set August 5, 2021, for the public hearing of the contempt case brought against the Assin Central Member of Parliament.
The complainant in the case, Alhassan Suhuyini will be the first witness to appear before the committee.
Mr. Agyapong came under fire two weeks ago for threats he made against Erastus Asare Donkor, a journalist with Luv FM in Kumasi.
He called for the reporter to be beaten following the latter’s testimony before the committee that probed the disturbances at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.
The mother company of Luv FM, Multimedia Group, has already petitioned the police over the issue.
The Ghana Journalists Association has also called out Mr. Agyapong recalling similar comments made by the MP before the killing of Ahmed Suale, an investigator on Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ Tiger-Eye PI team.
Last week, the Deputy Majority Leader and MP for Effutu, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, offered support to the Assin Central MP.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Mr. Afenyo-Markin, who served as legal counsel for the Assin Central MP in a similar invitation to the Privileges Committee, described his colleague’s conduct as a slip.
“The media is not our enemy. We are not enemies to ourselves. Sometimes we slip,” the Deputy Majority leader said.