Minority Members Boycott Aidoo's Address in Parliament

Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July ?99

More than half of the Minority members in parliament on Wednesday walked out of proceedings in protest against Dr Tony Aidoo, Deputy Minister of Defence, as he took the floor to make a personal statement.

The boycott was preceded by constant booing and drumming of tables for about five minutes as Dr Aidoo got up to make the statement, thus making it impossible for him to be heard.

When order was finally restored, Mr Daniel F. Annan, Speaker, asked members who were prepared to listen to do so and those who were not to walk out. The Minority members did so but 12 of them, including the leadership, came back.

It all began when Mr Speaker informed the House that Dr Aidoo was in the House to make a personal statement in response to certain allegations made against him on the floor of the House by some members of the Minority before he was made a Deputy Minister.

This is the first time that a minister or a member is making a personal statement since the beginning of the fourth Parliament.

The Minority, led by Nana Akufo-Addo and Mr J.H. Mensah, protested and argued that since the issues being raised happened when the Deputy Minister was not a minister, and for that matter a member of the House, he could not use the floor of the House to clear those issues.

Members are not allowed by standing orders of the House to debate personal statements or comment on them.

Nana Akufo-Addo said: "it is quite clear that there are other avenues available to the member; the floor of the House is not available for him, in so far as it is of retrospective nature".

Mr Speaker explained that he was granting the Deputy Minister permission on the basis of standing order 72 and article 111 of the constitution.

Mr Speaker ruled that within standing order 72 and article 111 of the constitution, the Deputy Minister could make a personal statement.

According to order 72, Mr Speaker may allow a member to explain a matter of personal nature or make a statement on a matter of urgent public importance.

Article 111 of the constitution allows the Vice-President or a Minister or Deputy Minister who is not a member of the House to participate in the proceedings and shall be accorded all privileges of an MP but is not entitled to vote or hold an office in Parliament.

By definition, Dr Aidoo is not a member of the House but is covered by article 111.

This brought a lot of members from the Minority side to the floor in protest but Mr Speaker stuck to his ruling and disallowed any further protests.

When all avenues failed, the Minority began to drum their tables in protest and finally walked out when Mr Speaker asked those prepared to listen to the statement to do so.

"Those who want to listen should do so and those who are not interested may choose to walk out," he stated.

Tony Aidoo?s day in Parliament

Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July ?99

Dr Tony Aidoo, deputy Minister of Defence told Parliament on Wednesday that he was displeased with certain remarks about his nomination for the post of deputy minister for defence, made by Mr J.H Mensah and Mr Kwamena Bartels.

Dr Aidoo said Mr Mensah told the House during the debate that "Dr Tony Aidoo's record that I know is that of an abrasive and rather unbalanced character".

The Deputy Minister said a person described as having an "unbalanced character" can only be clinically deemed to be mentally unstable or to have a pathological state of mental health.

"I have never been clinically declared or otherwise evidenced to be mentally unstable or to have a pathological state of mental health," he said.

This, he said, could only be a diabolical attempt by the Minority Leader to deceive the House into concluding that he is not a proper and a fit person to hold the office of a Deputy Minister.

Dr Aidoo?s presence in the floor of the House to make a personal statement nearly marred parliamentary proceedings when the minority group walked out in protest.

The Minority returned in a few minutes later and greeted every word from Dr Aidoo with deafening shouts and hooting. The Speaker had a difficult time putting the House in order.

Dr Aidoo said the allegations made against him by Mr Bartels, which alleged wrongdoing on his part while working at the University of Cape Coast, were also false.

Mr Bartels said Dr Aidoo was given a research grant of 6,000 dollars which he never used for the purpose and demanded to be paid an ex-gratia expatriate end-of-service benefits when, indeed, he had filled his forms as a Ghanaian.

He said further that Dr Aidoo once led a delegation to the Castle to insult Mr Justice Daniel Francis Annan, then a member of the PNDC, over the controversy relating to the appointment of a vice-chancellor of the university.

Dr Aidoo said to the extent that Mr Bartels was an assistant registrar at that time, that position could not have authorised him to have access to his personal file and its confidential information.

He said Mr Bartels claimed the Francois Report as his source of information but that report was published two years before his appointment at the university came to an end.

The terms of his retirement from the service of the university could, therefore, not possibly appear in that document.

Dr Aidoo explained further that the Francois Commission was instituted by the then PNDC Secretary for Education over the appointment of a Vice-Chancellor and the UTAG, dissatisfied with it, petitioned the PNDC for review and Mr Justice Annan was appointed to handle the issue.

He said UTAG met with Mr Justice Annan at the State House and not the Castle as alleged and the incident of the abuse could not have been recorded in that report.

With regard to the 6,000-dollar allegation, Dr Aidoo said the original allegation of misappropriation was made by the then head of department who was an adversary in the UTAG versus the Vice-Chancellor dispute.

He said the allegations were debunked at the hearing of the "Francois Commission", adding that the evidence he tended to the effect that the grant was utilised for the purpose of its disbursement was accepted in the report of the commission.

The Deputy Minister said he had throughout his life exhibited outstanding behaviour to the admiration of numerous Ghanaians and foreigners.

He has also rendered selfless service to the country for the past 19 years as a lecturer and director of the National Development Planning Commission and has also been a member of several presidential and government delegations.

"I was also a member of the Consultative Assembly that drafted our country's 1992 national constitution ... and I am inclined to belief that it was in recognition of the above behaviour qualities and services that the President nominated me ... for the post of Deputy Minister of Defence."

Dr Aidoo said the two members of Parliament, being members of the Appointment Committee, could have confronted him with these allegations during the public hearing.

"They failed or refused to do so because they knew that the fallacy of the allegations would be easily exposed in confrontation with me," Dr Aidoo added.

He said his statement had the singular purpose of maintaining the sanctity of the constitution and the standing orders of the House against such blatant abuses.

Mr Justice Annan turned down a request by Mr Mensah to respond to the Deputy Minister's statement.

The Speaker advised members who want to respond to the statement to use other parliamentary channels available to them.

According to the House's standing orders, personal statements are not to be commented on or debated.