House to settle impasse on "Mumuni gag"

The Leadership of Parliament on Tuesday said they were working together to find an amicable solution to an impasse that hit the House during the debate on President John Agyekum Kufuor's State of the Nation Address. The Speaker Mr Peter Ala Adjetey had barred Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, NDC-Kunbungu, from speaking in the chamber of Parliament until further notice.

The Member had refused to comply with a ruling the Speaker gave, demanding of him to withdraw a statement he had made in his contribution to the debate. "Mr Speaker, I would look ridiculous in the face of Ghanaians if I withdraw, since the statement is a well known fact," Alhaji Mumuni had said.

The Speaker then replied: "Then I can no longer hear you. You would not be heard in the House until the Committee on Privileges has sat and made recommendations on the matter."

The Member had asserted that during the last New Patriotic Party (NPP) congress, Mr J. H. Mensah, Senior Minister, said by the time the trial of former National Democratic Congress (NDC) officials was over, the party would have collapsed and claimed that there were subtle manoeuvres by the government to subdue the Minority.

Mr Abraham Ossei-Aidoo, NPP-Tema West and the Majority Chief Whip, rose on a point of order and challenged Alhaji Mumuni that Mr Mensah never said those words and prayed the Speaker to ask the member to withdraw it.

The Speaker asked Alhaji Mumuni to substantiate his statement or to withdraw it. Alhaji Mumuni said the statement had been published widely in the media and had not been refuted and declared that he would look ridiculous if he did so.

The Speaker then ruled that he would not be heard and that the case was being referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament because it was an affront to him since a member could not challenge his ruling without a substantive motion.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, the Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, speaking to the media in his office after the House had adjourned, said the Leadership would resolve the issue in a manner that would not do any damage to the proceedings there.

He said open defiance to the Speaker was a serious thing but it should be recognised that parliamentary proceedings "are always emotive. You live with the Speaker's ruling. If you don't where do you go," he asked.

Mr Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader, said: "For a member and the Speaker to disagree is a normal parliamentary practice." Mr Bagbin, who was not in the chamber during the incident, said he was in touch with the Speaker and that the Leadership of the House would come out with an amicable solution on matter. "It is part of a parliamentary game. I don't see it as a serious matter that will affect proceedings in the House."