MPs can be punished for misconducting themselves during the election of Speaker – Lawyer

Julius Opoku Agyei, a private legal practitioner, has said Members of Parliament who misconducted themselves during the election of a Speaker for the 8th Parliament can be punished under the standing orders of Parliament.

“If you look at the Standing Orders number 28, which is under contempt of Parliament or breach of privileges, [it states that] ‘an act or omission which obstructs or impedes Parliament in the performance of its functions or which obstructs or impedes a member or officer of Parliament in the discharge of his duties or affronts the dignity of Parliament, or which turns either directly or indirectly to produce such a result shall be contempt of Parliament,” Head of Opoku Agyei and Company said in an interview with Joy News monitored by GhanaWeb.

Opoku Agyei averred that the misbehaviour of the MPs-elect on the dawn of January 7 did not amount to a breach of Ghana’s Public Election law.

He explained that the MPs who were involved and had fuelled the riotous behaviour in the chamber could not be charged with committing an offence under the Public Election law, since, according to him, the process of selecting a Speaker does not fall under the Public Election law.

“I believe this is the proper provision [in Standing Order 28 of Parliament] under which they should be tried and if found guilty, the appropriate punishment meted out to them.

“The fact that they cannot be properly tried under one enactment doesn’t mean that there is no enactment which can be brought in to deal with the conduct,” Opoku Agyei added.

The election of a Speaker for the 8th Parliament was characterised by chaos as scenes from the august house shows how the elected representatives of the Ghanaian public were misconducting themselves during the process.

Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin was at the end elected the Speaker of Parliament with Joseph Osei Owusu and Andrew Asiamah Amoako as first and second deputy Speaker of Parliament respectively.