We'll force Speaker to resign – Fighters

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye breached parliamentary protocol in connection with plans by the legislature to acquire a new 450-seat chamber, Abeiku Adams, one of the leaders of pressure group, Economic Freedom Fighters, has said.

He revealed in an interview with Kwabena Prah Jnr (The Don) on Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Monday, 8 July 2019 that the group has sighted a letter written by Prof Oquaye inviting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cut the sod for the commencement of the project at a time parliament has not debated the matter on the floor.

This, he said, smacks of a breach of parliamentary proceedings for which the Speaker must be made to step down.

“We will force the Speaker of parliament to step down. We have seen a letter allegedly written by him inviting the president to cut the sod for the project when parliament has not debated the matter. This action is against parliamentary procedure and, so, the Speaker must step down,” he said.

He also noted that Prof Oquaye has also failed to respond to some letters they wrote to him complaining about how some lawmakers absent themselves from parliament without permission.

“Parliament is the engine of our democracy because they check the executive arm of government and also make laws for the judiciary to interpret. Without parliament, there will be chaos because essentially, they are governing the entire country. For this reason, the MPs will need to be serious with their work.

“But what we have seen over the years is that some MPs absent themselves from parliament without permission. We wrote to the Speaker informing him about this matter, yet he has not uttered a word in response to our letter,” he said.

“On Saturday, 14 July 2019, we are staging a mammoth demonstration against parliament and the Speaker,” he added.

Mr Abeiku Adams and another member of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Ernesto Yeboah, were both arrested in parliament on Friday, 5 July 2019, after they disrupted parliamentary proceedings by shouting, “Drop That Chamber” from the public gallery where they were sitting.

“Our arrest was needlessly violent,” he said.