Carlos Ahenkorah
THE MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for Tema West Constituency, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, has been suspended for a period of six months by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).
Suspension of the MP, who doubles as deputy minister of trade and industry, followed a decision taken by majority of the assembly members through secret ballot conducted by the Tema Metropolitan Office of the Electoral Commission under the supervision of Nana Oduro Numapau, Tema EC boss.
Mr. Ahenkorah obtained 9 against the decision and 25 for the suspension, out of the total 34 assembly members who cast their ballots.
The suspension, according to the assembly, would deny the MP access to his Common Fund and to the assembly. In addition, he should not have any dealings with anybody on behalf of the assembly over the period of the suspension.
He was charged with obstruction and misconduct under the Local Government Act, 2016 (Act 936) Sub-section 119.
According to the assembly, the action of the MP had dented the image of the assembly and breached the law of the assembly.
His suspension emanated from a complaint filed by the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Felix Mensah Nii Annang-La, to the Public Relations and Complaints Committee (PRCC) of the Assembly, chaired by the Presiding Member of the Assembly, Richard Fiadomor.
The committee, after thorough investigations into the matter, found overwhelming evidence to pronounce the deputy minister guilty before slapping him with the suspension.
However, the assembly agreed to reduce the suspension period to three months if the MP is able to render unqualified apology to it (assembly) during a general assembly meeting.
It would be recalled that last Thursday, Mr Ahenkorah descended on the taskforce of the assembly led by the Works Engineer, Maxwell Adu Boateng, who was supervising the demolition of unauthorized metal containers erected at the edges of a road at Cocoa Village in Community 2 in the Tema West Constituency of the Greater Accra Region.
The unauthorised structures were said to be posing security threat to residents of the Cocoa Village where the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has its offices. On three different occasions, Cocobod wrote to the assembly to help evacuate the traders in front of its fence wall.
The assembly subsequently formed a taskforce comprising the police, navy personnel and city guards to remove the structures.
Mr. Ahenkorah, who got wind of the exercise, rushed to the site, allegedly attacked the TMA taskforce and prevented it from demolishing the structures at the Cocoa Village.
He was purported to have further attempted to physically assault the Works Engineer but he got hint of the MP’s plot and quickly disappeared from the scene with the MP chasing him.
Barely a week after the incident, the PRCC, made up of representatives from the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice, civil society organisations, National Commission for Civic Education, Information Service Department among others, probed the incident and found the conduct of Mr. Ahenkorah unfortunate hence, the suspension.
Two other Assembly members, Christian Amoah and Denis Amanor Tetteh – a government appointee – were also charged with misconduct.
The two were accused of hurling insults on the chief executive during a similar exercise in the Tema East Constituency.
But for the intervention of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema East Constituency, Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover, they were also going to be suspended; they rendered apologies to the MCE. The assembly has forfeited their allowances and mobilisation fees for September.
From Vincent Kubi, Tema