Alexander Afenyo-Markin
The Majority Caucus in Parliament has rebuked its Minority counterpart for scandalizing the judiciary and blackmailing the government in respect of the Cape Coast High Court’s ruling in the matter of Assin North Constituency.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu slammed the court for its ruling, describing it as “a travesty of justice”, aside indicating that “the courts of Ghana have been captured, and that the courts have become a forum being used surreptitiously to tilt the balance of power.”
He also suggested that danger begets Ghana’s democracy and therefore threatened cooperation in the House would suffer henceforth.
But his comments did not go down well with the Majority side which believes Mr. Haruna Iddrisu and colleagues in the opposition NDC have sinister motives to frustrate government business at the detriment of the citizenry.
Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin said “the agenda of the NDC is to make Ghanaians suffer by frustrating government business” in Parliament and as a ruse for its desperate attempt to come back to power.
“We are disappointed because we expect the NDC Minority, no matter how desperate they are for power, to wake up to the reality of rule of law which is part of the governance of this country,” he stressed at a press briefing in Parliament last Friday.
Relying on Article 125 (1) and (3) of the Constitution, Mr. Afenyo-Markin argued that justice, which emanates from Ghanaians, is administered in the name of the Republic by the Judiciary which shall be independent and subject to only the constitution.
He said the NDC Minority had gained notoriety for always coming out to scandalize the judiciary any time a ruling or judgment does not go in its favour.
“There is precedence in the matter that just occurred at the Cape Coast High Court. In that precedence, [the late] Hon Adamu Dramani Sakande who was the MP for Bawku Central was asked whether or not at the time he was filing he owed allegiance to any other country.”
“His answer was he was in the process and that he had initiated the process of giving up his British citizenship. This matter traveled all the way to the Supreme Court and the court’s position was clear: that at the time he filled the form he had still not given up the British citizenship.”
“Accordingly, he was not qualified to be a candidate let alone come to occupy the chamber of Parliament. He was denied the opportunity, and not only that, the fact that he had lied on oath. Bear in mind that the form we fill at EC, you depose to an affidavit and because he misled the Electoral Commission (that in itself was a criminal offence), the State prosecuted him. He was convicted and sentenced; he served the jail term,” he recounted
Mr. Afenyo-Markin quizzed: “What is different from the Adamu Sakande’s case that the NDC is complaining? The same NDC will want to put up a legal challenge. When they win they are happy, when they lose they come back home crying,” he noted.
He likened the behaviour of the NDC to that of a rich man’s son who has a ball and when he brings it for his playmates to play with him, he takes it back home when they score against him, intimating that this behaviour is unfair.
“You have gone to court, contested the case and lost. This issue of somebody having dual citizenship and not giving it up was started by the NDC.”
“They made sure Adamu Sakande was jailed as in the complainant. The complainant did not pursue the civil angle, but he also pursued the criminal angle,” the Deputy Leader said.
He indicated the NPP MPs at the time did not suggest that the NDC government was interfering with the judicial process, and asked rhetorically: “Or the NDC is telling us that it interfered with the judicial process or that when they had power that was what they were doing?”
“We owe it a duty to ourselves and this country to protect the peace. When we do these things to escalate tension and mislead people into believing that our institutions are not working, all that we are calling for is chaos; all that we are calling for is lawlessness,” he pointed out.
He said the Minority NDC in Parliament and its leadership ought to respect the court’s decision, and recounted the event of January 7 this year when Mr. Haruna Iddrisu stated that “They had advised the MP-elect for Assin North and he had taken a personal decision to bear responsibility of his actions.”
“What has come to that? When there was an injunction on the MP-elect, when the man had been in court and knew of the court’s order, when his lawyers were aware of the court’s order, he decided to disrespect the court and came to this chamber to take an oath as Member of Parliament and hot the support of his colleagues.”
Mr. Afenyo-Markin suggested that perhaps, the court was even lenient pursuing that matter by not taking a judicial notice and convicting James Gyakye Quayson for contempt of court.
“It is important to state that the effect of the NDC Minority press conference was to play to the gallery. They must be seen to upholding and protecting the image of the judiciary and not to be scandalizing it,” he intimated.
He continued that technically, the NDC is creating the impression that state institutions must not have their independence to work by blaming the government for judicial decisions against them.
Blackmail
The Deputy Leader said he was again taken aback by the comment of Mr. Iddrisu that “cooperation [in the House] will suffer.”
“What is the meaning of cooperation will suffer? That you will frustrate government business? That you will become an obstructionist because you lost a case in court? Or that you will undermine business in Parliament?”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House