Politics of Thursday, 27 February 2020

Source: universnewsroom.com

UGSRC: Speaker spewing lies, he was never threatened – Deputy Speaker

Emmanuel Kwaku Ampem Adjei Emmanuel Kwaku Ampem Adjei

There appears to be disunity among the leaders of the University of Ghana Students Representative Council General Assembly as two of its topmost executives have given a sharp contradictory report on an occurrence that happened during its Wednesday evening sitting.

During this particular General Assembly meeting, members of the House unanimously voted to suspend indefinitely the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Kwaku Ampem Adjei, over alleged incidents of misconduct and breach of parliamentary procedure.

Emmanuel Kwaku Ampem Adjei, during the Sitting, stagged a walked out, an action General Assembly members are describing as unconstitutional and in contempt of the House.

‘Where in this world is this done? Imagine Prof. Mike Ocquaye just gets up one day while Ghana’s Parliament is in session and says he cannot continue the sitting any longer and so is calling for a recess. The Speaker unilaterally decides to plunge the entire House into redundancy because he thinks he cannot continue? Please!’, one member of the house fumed.

Explaining the reason for the walk-out, Emmanuel Ampem Owusu Agyei told UniversNews that, he was compelled to walk out of the Sitting as some members of the House violently approached him and threatened to attack him.

“I didn’t walk out because I felt like breaching the law, every member of the House would witness to the fact that, I was under attack, I had to move out to secure my safety” he said.

However, Deputy Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. John Populampo, has rubbished the accusations by the now-suspended Speaker.

John Populampo, who will now assume the role of the Speaker, says that Emmanuel Agyei’s life was not in any way threatened as he seeks to make the public understand.

“On no event was the life of the speaker threatened. The Speaker, at the time that the members needed him most, abandoned his duties and walked out of the house,” John Populampo told UniversNews

Making comments suggesting that he endorses the decision of the General Assembly, John Populampo narrated the incidents that led to the indefinite suspension of Emmanuel Adjei.

“The Speaker, as at the events of last night, rose and asked that the House move on recess. Whenever the General Assembly has to move on recess, members of the House have to request for it through a motion and that motion must be seconded. Even if he had consulted the leadership of the House, the leadership of the house could not take such a decision,” he narrated.

“The decision by Members of the House to suspend the Speaker was a unanimous decision. It was put to a vote and nobody stood against the suspension. So, circumstantial evidence proves that the Speaker was not doing his duties,” he added.