Former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has questioned the Speaker of Parliament’s authority to suspend Members of Parliament (MPs), arguing that neither the Standing Orders nor the Constitution of Ghana grants him such powers.
Speaking on Newsfile on JoyNews, he acknowledged that the Speaker acted within Order 342 of the new Standing Orders when he referred the suspected misconduct of MPs at the Appointments Committee to the Committee on Privileges and Immunities. However, he insisted that for the Speaker to suspend the MPs for two weeks was beyond his legal authority.
“The Speaker is right to have availed himself of the imperative of Order 342 of the new Standing Orders,” which allows referring matters of privilege to the Committee of Privileges and Immunities.
However, he questioned the Speaker’s directive for the immediate suspension of four MPs involved in the chaos, stating, “Now the question to ask is from where the Speaker is deriving his authority. Neither the Standing Orders nor the Constitution grants the Speaker any of such authority.”
He explained that Order 35 permits the person presiding to order a member to withdraw from Parliament for disorderly conduct, but this withdrawal lasts only for the remainder of the day’s sitting, not for an extended period like two weeks.
He emphasised that if an incident occurs in the plenary, “the Speaker has the authority to cause the withdrawal of that person from the presence of Parliament,” but this should not exceed 24 hours.
Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also noted that since the incident occurred before a committee, the appropriate action should have been taken by the committee’s chairman, not the Speaker.
He concluded that “the Speaker has not only jumped the gun but has gone outside the prescription of the law to impose his sanction. His own attitude and conduct is questionable.”
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