Ford probe: Surcharge Minority – Group

The Minority Leader of Ghana’s parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, should be surcharged for the cost incurred by the state in recalling members of the house to consider a motion to have President John Mahama investigated over the Ford Expedition SUV gifted him by a Burkinabe contractor, Djibril Kanazoe, Strategic Thinkers Network (STRANEK), has said.

On Thursday September 1, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, the Speaker of Parliament, threw out the motion of inquiry filed by Minority legislators to investigate the president, explaining that the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), a constitutional body, was already investigating the case.

In dismissing the motion, Mr Adjaho told the house “after a careful study of the correspondence from CHRAJ, I have come to the conclusion that the matter is not different in material, in particular from the matter under investigation by CHRAJ.”

The Minority leader described the dismissal as ‘whimsical and capricious’.

But STRANEK in a statement co-signed by Nii Tettey Tetteh and Charles Kwadade on Monday September 5 said they deemed it fit to ask the Minority leader to humbly pay for the “financial loss” he caused to the state.

“The invoking of article 112 (3) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 38 (1) of the standing orders of Parliament by the Minority is needless per our observation as a think tank. No wonder, the Speaker of Parliament shot down the motion. It is for this reason amid others … [that] we advocate … the Minority leader [should] to be surcharged…”