Kennedy Agyapong calling Muntaka dumb 'unfortunate' – Inusah Fuseini

Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini, has described as “unfortunate” comments made by MP for Assin Central constituency, Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, to the effect that Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak is dumb.

“It is very unfortunate, a statement like that is coming from the Honourable Member of Parliament,” he told Class news on Friday 22 June 2018.

He was responding to comments by Mr Agyapong who said that the Asawase legislator “is a dumb MP” adding that he (Mr Agyapong) is “not scared of anybody in this country, I live my life and I’m telling you…you see they consume information and that’s a dumb statement he [Mr Muntaka] has ever made. He is a dumb MP and now I take him on one-on-one”.

The Assin MP has promised a showdown at the Privileges Committee which is currently considering a referral by the House to haul him before it for bringing the name of the House into disrepute.

Mr Agyapong is alleged to have denigrated Parliament by using offensive words against the Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary business, Osei Kyei –Mensah- Bonsu.

Mr Muntaka first raised the issue in parliament concerning the alleged insult and the House referred the matter to the privileges committee.

Mr Agyapong who feels uncomfortable by the action of the Asawase constituency MP indicated blatantly that the former is dumb several times during the interview with the press on Friday.

This, Mr Fuseini said was wrong on the part of Mr Agyapong because “Parliament as an institution made an order”.

“You fall into a trap of insulting parliament when in actual fact you were targeting an individual. At the point that the issue was referred to the Privileges Committee it no longer becomes an act of the individual but an act of Parliament,” he stressed.



Mr Fuseini was of the view that :“Even apologies are not to be offered in the media but they have to be offered to the Privileges Committee and it has to be in a way that will be deemed as an honest apology then it will be given to the House. It is unfortunate that he said the motion was moved by dumb Members of Parliament or by a dumb Member of Parliament. Whatever be the case the Speaker does not think it was dumb, the Member who contributed did not think it was dumb. They thought that the conduct and pronouncement was an affront to the dignity of Parliament and that was why it was referred to the Privileges Committee”

According to him, “Parliament as an institution felt very bad, hard done by those comments [of Mr Agyapong]” and if an individual feels what he said was not an affront to the dignity of parliament “you don’t go back to the media to castigate those who complained about the conduct. You go before the Privileges Committee and then explain. That is the decent way of getting yourself exonerated”.