The Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has decided to abstain from commenting on whether or not Andrew Amoako Asiamah will be entertained in Parliament for him to continue his work as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fomena as the House reconvenes Monday, December 14, 2020.
His explanation is that “it was a directive given by the Speaker [of Parliament],” to expel Mr. Asiamah from the House.
In addition to that, he says the Minority side, and specifically, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu on the day the Speaker gave the directive said he disagreed with the Speaker.
He said he will not talk about it further because there are processes to be followed.
He was speaking in a radio interview on Accra-based Oman FM Monday morning, December 14, 2020.
Irony
Ironically, depending on the outcome of last week’s parliamentary elections, the current Majority side in Parliament and the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) ought to engage and try to convince Mr. Asiamah to sit with the NPP side in the next Parliament so as to enable the party gain majority.
Before Parliament took a break for the December 7, 2020, general election, the Speaker of Parliament, Prof Aaron Mike Oquaye directed that the seat of the Fomena MP was vacant.
This was because the NPP had written to the Speaker that Mr. Asiamah was no longer a member of the party following his decision to re-contest the Fomena seat as an independent candidate.
“With all intents and purposes, he [Asiamah] is no longer a member of the party [NPP]. He has pronounced himself publicly as an independent and has filed his papers to compete against the party [NPP] in his official candidate as an independent on 7th December 2020,” the Speaker said on the day he issued the directive for the seat to be declared vacant.
Asiamah retained
Mr. Asiamah did not heed the advice to step down and went ahead to contest and won the Fomena seat in the December 7 election.
