George Ahuahey, the suspended Assembly Member after he was slapped
AFTER RECEIVING a hefty slap from a government appointee, the Assembly Member for the Bedeku Electoral Area, George Ahuahey has been suspended indefinitely by the Ada East District Assembly.
The suspension followed his refusal to appear before a committee that has been set up to investigate the assault case between him and the government appointee, Theophilus Tetteh Ocansey, a well-known NDC activist.
Alhaji Shamsudeen Adjovu, the Presiding Member of the Assembly who confirmed the suspension to DAILY GUIDE indicated that on October 30, 2016, members of the Ada East District Assembly were summoned to an Ordinary meeting and a report by the Public Relations and Complaints Committee (PRCC) on the assault case was tabled before the house for discussion.
He said the victim (Ahuahey) and the culprit (Ocansey) were later invited for investigations but it was only Mr Ocansey who came and he narrated his side of the matter which led to him to slap the Bedeku assembly member.
However, Mr Ahuahey, the victim, failed to appear before the committee after several persuasions with the excuse that the case is with the Ada District Police Headquarters so he would not like to comment on the matter until the police completed their investigations.
According to him, in spite of that, Mr Ahuahey was invited again but for the second time he failed to honour the invitation and upon the recommendation of PRCC, Mr Ocansey was asked to write an apology letter to the general house and expelled from the PRCC of the Assembly.
Mr Ahuahey, for failure to appear the committee, was also suspended indefinitely.
The Assembly members, however, expressed their displeasure over the ruling and threatened to pass a vote of no confidence on the Presiding Member.
The aggrieved members argued that per the Model Standing Orders for District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies no power has been vested in a Presiding Member to suspend an elected Assembly Member indefinitely.
“The Model Standing Orders of the Assembly further prevents a matter before a law court or tribunal to be debated so the Presiding member has erred.”
The Assembly Members further accused the DCE, Presiding Member and Madam Comfort Doyoe Ghansah, the Ada East MP for allegedly conspiring to suspend Mr Ahuahey for exposing rots at the assembly.
It would be recalled that the Bedeku assembly member, in a WhatsApp group chat questioned the motive behind the District Chief Executive (DCE), Nurudeen Ahortu’s, decision to present a motorbike as a gift to a police officer stationed at the Ada Foah Police Station.
The assembly member demanded to know who financed the purchase of the motorbike – whether the money was from the treasury of the assembly or the private pocket of the DCE.
Interestingly, this innocent question was said to have attracted a backlash from some colleagues of the Bedeku assembly member which allegedly led to the entire hullabaloo.
From Vincent Kubi, Ada-Foah