Samuel Atta Akyea, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South, has criticized Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin’s decision to suspend the approval of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s newly nominated ministers.
Atta Akyea suggested that if he were in Bagbin’s position, he would have issued an apology for the error.
At the heart of the matter was an interlocutory injunction filed at the Supreme Court by MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse K. Dafeamekpor, prompting Bagbin’s decision.
However, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Godfred Yeboah Dame argued that Parliament was not barred from continuing with the approval processes for ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees.
In his response to Bagbin, Dame emphasized that there was no risk of prejudice to the Supreme Court’s authority if Parliament proceeded with the approval processes.
He clarified that Dafeamekpor’s lawsuit challenged the President’s authority to relieve and reassign ministers, which did not impact the approval process for new nominees as outlined in the constitution.
In an interview on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Atta Akyea expressed alarm at Bagbin’s decision, suggesting that an apology from Bagbin would prevent further disruption to government business caused by his misjudgment.
“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 the parliament from considering the nominees of the president. Because the Dafeamekpor case relates to a different matter altogether,” Mr. Akyea emphasized.
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