Drag Kofi Jumah Privileges Committee - AFAG

A member of the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), Martin Adjei Mensah, has called on Parliament to haul the MP for Asokwa, Hon. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, before the Privileges Committee for seeking to bring the image of the august House into disrepute by making comments he deemed as unparliamentary and an insult to women.

“I am surprise that up till now, parliament which he is a member have not taken any action at least in dragging him before the Privileges Committee for seeking to drag the image of the house to disrepute especially by those comments. This is not only an internal matter for the NPP; he is a member of parliament who made such unfortunate statement on radio and in public. We are all wailing because it is coming from an MP and a former deputy minister who should show good example for others ...he did not have to descend so low with those comments and I think that parliament has to check its members because they are dragging the name of the house in the mud,” Martin Adjei Mensah said.

Hon Jumah caused a stir on Wednesday, November 10th, when he stated on Fox FM, a Kumasi-based radio station, albeit indirectly that Madam Appiagyei 'used' her body (“Fa wo to begye”) to become the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) in 2004.

The comment infuriated the public, particularly women, who nearly vented their spleen on the former Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in ex-President Kufuor’s regime. Additionally, electorates in his constituency even threatened to embark on a demonstration to express their displeasure about their MP’s comments.

Speaking on e-TV’s Newspaper Review, Mr. Adjei Mensah, who described the remark as unfortunate and irresponsible, accused the NPP MP and other leading politicians of consciously trying to institutionalize insults in the country’s mainstream politics. A staunch NPP activist, Mr. Adjei Mensah, claimed the MP and other politicians always want to use every political platform to engage in verbal abuse.

“First of all, let me condemn it, this statement is unbecoming of an MP. Did he ever realize that he was not speaking in his bedroom but on radio? I think people who find themselves in our governance system should realize that by virtue of…placed on their shoulders some responsibilities which must reflect in your action. You cannot come on radio and make such derogatory statements…I have observed with worry over time that there is this consciousness to want to institutionalize insults…in our political cycle. They cannot do without insults and the unfortunate thing is that they will go on-air or do the insult…on a political platform…I think it is very unfortunate,” he stated.