Sehwi Wiawso Member of Parliament (MP), Dr Kwaku Afriyie, has urged Ningo Prampram MP, Sam George, to exercise caution with his threats to resist a Deputy Speaker to vote.
According to him, if Mr George wants violence, he can equally meet up to the task and face him.
“My nephew Sam George should be very careful. Somebody should tell him I don’t want intimidation in parliament. If he tries anything, he will come and meet Linquist Kwaku Afriyie’s son who is Dr Afriyie.
“I represent the people of Sehwi Wiawso likewise Joe Wise Bekwai and they all deserve a voice. So it will be very absurd for someone to say because I’m presiding I cannot contribute to a particular matter,” he said in an interview on Accra-based Okay FM.
Dr Afriyie, who doubles as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation’s (MESTI) comment comes on the back of Mr George’s statement following a Supreme Court ruling on the voting right of deputy speakers.
In a 7-0 unanimous decision last Wednesday, the apex court held that upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 103 and 104 of the 1992 Constitution, a deputy speaker presiding over proceedings in Parliament has the right to vote on matters and also be counted as part of the quorum for decision making in the house.
Reacting to the ruling, Mr George said “Parliament is a master of its own affairs and that the procedure in parliament resides in the bosom of Mr Speaker,” and that allowing anyone presiding over proceedings to take part in a vote he is superintending will amount to an illegality.
He also vowed to stand up to anyone or arm of government that seeks to interfere in the business of parliament, describing the Supreme Court decision as a dangerous slope as it presupposes that someone may go to court for the courts to hold an MP criminally liable for comments on the floor of the house.
But to Dr Afriyie, his colleague MP cannot threaten anyone in Parliament because he is not the only man in the house.
“He cannot intimidate anybody but if he tries to be violent, he will know we have all been through such a stage because I was in commonwealth hall so I’m a true vandal; Seidu Adamu and co can attest to what I did in commonwealth before coming here but once you are growing, you let go of certain things,” he cautioned.
The MP noted he had a few months admired his colleague’s personality and wouldn’t expect him to mar it with any inappropriate behaviour.
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