NPP wants to smear Mahama with dirt – Bagbin

Minority Leader, Hon. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin says the recall by Parliament which was occasioned by the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) over a proposed motion to the House to investigate President John Dramani Mahama for collecting a Ford Expedition gift from a Burkinabe contractor is just an attempt to dent the image of the first gentleman of the land.

In his view, the proposed motion calling on the House to set up a bipartisan Committee to investigate the President is just a complete waste time and the country’s scarce resources.

According to him, the Minority knows very well that once a matter is pending before a Court of competent jurisdiction, Parliament cannot delve into the same matter.

He therefore wonders the motive behind the move of the Minority members.

“It is clear even to the uninitiated that this recall of Parliament and the New Patriotic Party’s strategy that has heralded it has been borne out of clear mischief and a desperate attempt to throw as much dirt at President John Dramani Mahama ahead of the December 7 elections”, he noted.

Hon. Bagbin who doubles as the Leader of Government Business of the Legislature made this observation when he addressed journalists at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday.

The conference was to respond to “current media discussions and certain erroneous and deliberately misleading impressions created by the NPP Minority around the reasons for the recall of Parliament slated for Thursday, September 1, 2016”.

The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho has summoned Members of Parliament to sit on Thursday, September 1, 2016. The agenda for the sitting was not outlined in the public notice that was released by the Speaker.

However, speculations are rife that the Speaker has received a letter from the Minority NPP Caucus calling for the impeachment of the President for accepting a Ford Expedition gift from a Burkinabe contractor.

Leading the discussion on the matter were members of the elephant family.

But the Majority Leader, who is also the MP for Nadowli/Kaleo constituency said although the recall of Parliament was occasioned by the Minority, the reason was not to impeach the President.

Instead, it was to call on the Legislature to constitute a Special Parliamentary Committee to investigate the President for accepting the Ford Expedition gift.

“This recall of Parliament has been occasioned by the Minority in Parliament invoking Article 112(3) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 38(1) of the Standing Orders of Parliament. We have only today the 31st of August, 2016 upon returning to Parliament seen the motion submitted to the Right Honourable Speaker as the reason for the recall”, he said.

The proposed motion which was signed by the Minority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, a copy of which is in possession of Kasapafmonline.com is calling for a Special Parliamentary Committee to investigate the following:

Whether the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama received a Ford Expedition vehicle from a Burkinabe contractor.
Whether the Ford Expedition vehicle received by the President infringes any law of Ghana.
Whether the Ford Expedition vehicle donated to the President infringes his own code of conduct and
Any other matter relevant to the above subject.
Hon. Bagbin commenting further said the action of the Minority “is most certainly a needless waste of scare resources and precious time when Members of Parliament ought to be engaging their constituents”.

“Why is the NPP Minority claiming publicly that they seek to impeach the President tomorrow when this is a not contained in their motion? Why is the NPP Minority asking Parliament to investigate the matter which is already being investigated by a constitutionally mandated body – the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice? Why did the Minority Leader who signed the motion as far back as August 3, 2016 state on Citi FM as recent as this Monday the 29th of August, 2016 that he did not know the reason for the recall and that he was “taken aback” when he heard the news of a recall from the “grapevine” as there had been “no prior consultation” with him? What is the Minority Leader running away from? What is he ashamed of? Ghanaians need to know”.