The Member of Parliament (MP) for Tafo Pankorono Constituency, Ekow Vincent Assafuah, is asking the House to cite the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, for contempt.
This, according to him, is because the “disparaging remarks” made by Mr Gyamfi about the leadership of the NDC in the House and Speaker Alban Bagbin are attempts to impugn the integrity of legislators.
His comment comes in the wake of the alleged attack launched by Mr Gyamfi on the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Bagbin and the leadership of the Minority MPs including the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu and the Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak after the House voted to confirm some ministerial nominees.
In a post on his official Facebook wall, the outspoken politician accused leadership of betraying party supporters by failing to carry out their threat to reject some nominees.
“Comrades, the betrayal we have suffered in the hands of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin, the leadership of our Parliamentary group, particularly Hon. Haruna Iddrissu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, and dozens of our own MPs, is what strengthens me to work hard for the great NDC to regain power.
“It’s about time we understood, that we don’t have any NDC Speaker of Parliament. No we don’t! We have a Speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into Office to pursue his own parochial agenda and nothing more. You trust them, at your own peril,” part of the post read.
But reacting to this, the former Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Education described the conduct of Mr Gyamfi as “an affront to Parliament and a blatant breach of Article 122 of the 1992 constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, specifically order 30(2)”.
He further stated that “as a Member of Parliament and having sworn an oath of allegiance before the Speaker of Parliament, I find it both shocking and highly scandalising that Sammy Gyamfi would take on the Rt. Hon in such a brazen outburst, which is the characteristic of many of his public utterances.”
The Tafo legislator, who says he feels highly burdened by his oath of office to protect the sanctity and dignity of Parliament, asked Ghanaians to condemn Mr Gyamfi’s utterances without reservation.
He also challenged the NDC Communications Officer to provide evidence of his allegations against the Speaker. He added that Parliament must and should summon him if he fails to provide the said evidence within the next 72 hours.