Alexander Afenyo-Markin, Deputy Majority Leader,has proffered that the approach adopted by the Speaker of Parliament in referring Kennedy Agyepong, MP for Assin Central, to the Privileges Committee is inconsistent with Parliamentary procedure.
He explained that “the Speaker, Alban Bagbin took that decision without recourse to parliamentary procedure, the precedent of application of such nature requires that when the motion is moved, it has to be seconded and Members of Parliament are then given the opportunity to express their views on it”.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, referred Mr Agyepong, who is the Chairman of the Defence and Interior Committee of Parliament to the Privileges Committee for instigating attacks against JoyNews reporter, Erastus Asare Donkor.
But Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu in the Central Region, said this was not the case in Mr Agyepong’s latest referral to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.
“I felt that as a House, we have established our own conventions and practices and again, we are bound by our rules (Standing Orders),” he stated and questioned the decision which contended that procedural propriety was essentially any inquiry in any referral.
“I am a student of parliamentary jurisprudence, and there is no way that I would want to go on a path other than the known path of parliamentary jurisprudence so that is why I felt that the approach is not consistent with the standing orders and the approach adopted by the Speaker will haunt parliament in the future.
“Did the speaker see the video, did the honourable member procure the video to mount his argument? That was not what happened,” Mr Afenyo-Markin quizzed.–myjoyonline.com