Kennedy Ohene Agyapong
Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, escaped sanction from Parliament on Thursday after rendering apology over his recent comments made against the House.
He was, however, reprimanded by the House after he was found guilty for parliamentary contempt by the Privileges Committee for calling Parliament “cheap and useless.”
Speaker of Parliament, Mike Aaron Ocquaye, before reprimanding the MP, urged him to live up to expectation of parliamentarians.
According to the Speaker, “I agree that if this House should come to the conclusion that indeed the member should go and sin no more, we will not have the opportunity to have this same matter revisited in one form or the other in the annals of the history of this house whether from him or whoever else.”
The MP was subsequently given the opportunity to apologize, clarifying that some of the comments he is alleged to have made against the House were misconstrued.
According to the MP, “I plead with the House to remove the word ‘Parliament is useless’ because I never said that…today and tomorrow I will insist I never used the word.”
It would be recalled that Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak petitioned Parliament last year for action to be taken against Mr. Agyapong for allegedly describing the House as useless in a TV interview.
Mr. Agyapong denied the allegation against him, saying that Muntaka Mubarak’s claim was based on comments taken out of context.
BY Melvin Tarlue