John Jinapor
There was drama in Parliament yesterday when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Yapei/Kusawgu, John Jinapor, made an unfounded allegation on the Floor of the House that the Pullman Accra Airport City Hotel belonged to President Akufo-Addo.
The opposition MP who was Deputy Minister of Power under the Mahama administration then vanished from the Floor of the House after making the spurious allegation.
Deliberate Act
The Yapei/Kusawgu MP, who is also a member of the Finance Committee, made the unfounded allegation when he was contributing to a debate on a tax waiver of $23.9 million for the procurement of materials, plant, machinery and equipment by Platinum Properties Limited who, in collaboration with the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), is undertaking the Accra Airport City Hotel and Services Apartments project.
Immediately after making that unfounded allegation, the MP was nowhere to be found in the chamber. As a result, the Speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, said it was an affront to ‘Mace’ of Parliament.
The MP at the tail end of his submission on the debate had alleged that the tax waiver was to enable the President to build the ‘Akufo-Addo Hotel’ and that members of the Minority would never be part of the waiver after which he left the chamber.
Info Minister Rebuttal
After making the allegation, the Minister of Information and New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Ofoase/Ayirebi who is also a member of the Finance Committee, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, stood on a point of order and drew the attention of the Speaker to the unfounded allegations made by the NDC MP.
The minister thus asked the Speaker to call on the NDC MP to withdraw that unfounded allegation in accordance with the rules of the House since the hotel under discussion is known as the Pullman Accra Airport City Hotel and not Akufo-Addo Hotel. He stressed that such unsubstantiated allegations should not be allowed to stand in the records of the House.
When the Speaker called on Mr. Jinapor to withdraw that statement, members of the Minority burst into spontaneous laughter because he (Jinapor) was nowhere to be found in the chamber.
Unparliamentary Conduct
The Speaker said that it was highly unparliamentary for the NDC MP to turn his back on the ‘Mace’ of Parliament by leaving the chamber immediately after contributing to a debate on the floor.
Minority Whip
The Speaker, therefore, called on the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, to immediately call the Yapei/Kasuwgu MP to the chamber to come and withdraw his unfounded allegations.
“Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Jinapor just told me he was visiting the washroom so I will immediately call him to come and withdraw his statement,” the Minority Chief Whip replied.
The Speaker who had suspended the debate on the waiver to allow Mr. Jinapor to withdraw the unfounded allegation had no option but to direct the Table Office to expunge that allegation from the records of the House after failed attempts to get the MP to personally withdraw his allegation.
NDC Double Standards
The Information Minister in his earlier contribution to the debate on the waiver had accused the NDC Minority of double standards and hypocrisy because during their time in government former President John Mahama unilaterally, without recourse to Parliament, granted strategic investor status and tax waivers to some corporate and individual companies like West Hills Mall Limited, Tang Palace Hotel Limited, Mabani Seven Company, Quantum Power Ghana Gas Limited, Wilmar Africa Limited, Dream Reality Ltd, Boston Investments Ltd, Shoprite Ghana Pty Ltd, Vincien Sugar Refinery Ghana Ltd, Dzata Cement Ltd and Garden City Mall Ltd.
It is even turning out that Dzata Cement belonged to the brother of the then sitting President, John Mahama.
Doing The Right Thing
According to the Information Minister, in the case of President Akufo-Addo, Article 174(2) of the 1992 Constitution which requires parliamentary approval of such waivers has been respected and that this is the first time a President under the Fourth Republic has done the right thing with regard to offering tax waiver to a private investor, in collaboration with a state agency.
“Mr. Speaker, we want to serve notice to the Minority that all such illegal waivers given by the former President, John Mahama, will be recalled to Parliament for scrutiny or the person who granted these waivers be called before Parliament to answer why such waivers were given without parliamentary approval,” Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr