Anyidoho In Hot Waters

The Privileges Committee of Parliament, which has the power of a High Court, will soon invite Koku Anyidoho, President John Atta Mills' Head of Communications at the Presidency to answer contempt charges brought against him for reportedly insulting some leaders of the Minority Caucus in the august House.

Chairman of the Committee and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho who announced this on the floor of Parliament on Friday, indicated that the recording of the said insults has been received.

The First Deputy Speaker, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Avenor-Ave, said he has directed that the recordings be transcribed to enable members of the Privileges Committee to appraise full contents of the reported statements before inviting Anyidoho for hearing.

The revelation of the First Deputy Speaker followed a prompting by MP for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei that the issue has been on the shelves of the Privileges Committee for far too long.

Anyidoho, President Mills' Head of Communications at the Castle, was said to have bad-mouthed the Minority Members of Parliament particularly, Fredrick Opare-Ansah and Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Chief Whip and Leader respectively, describing them as an “irresponsible lot and a group of bellicose, whimsical and capricious people”.

He reportedly used the abusive language on Citi Fm in response to suggestions by Opare-Ansah that impeachment proceedings could be initiated against the President in line with Article 69 (1) of the 1992 Constitution if it is established that the Chief Executive of the land had indeed only rejected two 'brown envelopes' meant to corrupt him as claimed by Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist and management consultant, but failed to report the people who attempted to bribe him to the Police for prosecution.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that subsequent diplomatic manoeuvres by Anyidoho's bosses at the presidency to get him to eat humble pie, retract the insults and duly apologise to the Honourable Members of the House proved futile as he remained adamant, a situation which left the Minority group with no option but to seek drastic measures against him.

Consequently, deputy Minority Leader, Ambrose Derry, cited Anyidoho for contempt of Parliament

Petitioning the House on the matter, Hon. Ambrose Derry, who is also the MP for Lawra/Nandom in the Upper West Region, indicated that Anyidoho's outbursts were offensive not only to the dignity and integrity of Members of the Minority, but to the whole House and appealed that the case be referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament.

Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, subsequently referred the matter to the Privileges Committee for investigations and report and in accordance with the rules of the House.

It would be recalled that before travelling with President Mills to Copenhagen, Denmark for the Summit on Climate Change, Anyidoho aggressively threw invectives at the Minority Chief Whip on Citi Fm, saying, “Let Opare-Ansah understand, and I will call him honourable because the people of Suhum voted for him, so I will respect the people of Suhum.

I may not respect Opare-Ansah and his views but I will respect the electorate who voted for him to become MP so I would call him honourable.

“And tell him that I speak categorically that irresponsible people like him (Hon. Opare-Ansah) will not lead the President down an irresponsible path.

“The fact that people like Opare-Ansah have gone and sat down and are making this irresponsible statement does not mean that President Mills, having gotten the mandate of 23 to 24 million Ghanaians to build a better Ghana, should come and respond to this level of irresponsibility.

“And am saying that with people like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and Opare-Ansah in parliament, we have a question to answer and President Mills will hear but will not pay attention to the bellicose, whimsical and capricious irresponsibility of Opare-Ansah and his lots.”

“And we are telling Opare-Ansah and co that they better get ready, their irresponsibility; their bellicosity is nonsense and I use the word nonsense again,” he added.