Parliament must investigate Afenyo Markin - Bagbin

Majority Leader of Parliament, Hon Alban Bagbin has posited that the alleged fraud perpetrated by the opposition NPP MP for Efutu, Alexander Afenyo Markin, has put Parliament on the platter of public ridicule as corrupt.

According to the NDC MP for Nadowli-Kaleo Constituency, “what Afenyo Markin is alleged to have done is also giving a lot of credence to the corrupt nature of Parliament” as raised by Professor Stephen Adei that MPs demand bribes for their girlfriends.

Speaking to the issue of colleague MP, Afenyo Markin, who is alleged to have defrauded Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) an amount of GH¢250,000 to do what he described as legal gymnastics to throw away a case in court.

Describing the incident as serious, Hon. Bagbin said on Okay Fm’s 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show that Parliament must take up the issue because it will affect the image of the House even though other state institutions are handling the matter.

He added that Parliament has to do self-regulation in connection with Afenyo Markin’s alleged extortion so that any external body cannot do that for the House.

Highlighting on the adopted code of conduct for Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin said there are principles which are made known to Parliamentarians; stressing that his beleaguered colleague’s case has gone beyond the limit of the code of conduct.

He emphasized that this is a good case for Parliament to take to the Privileges Committee for appropriate sanctions to be carried out.

Touching on the kind of sanctions available for Hon. Afenyo Markin, Nadowli-Kaleo MP mentioned that Parliament can sanction him at the bar of Parliament; thus depending on the type of wrong, say, crime, Parliament can refer the matter after investigation to the appropriate authorities to prosecute in the court.

“These are open to us; at the bar of Parliament, a member could be suspended from sitting. A member could be debarred because we are not just called honorable for the sake of it; people expect us to conduct ourselves honorably and so if you fail to do that, why not?”

“The people have prescribed the manner by which we should be able to sanction the person. So it is there, and this has been used all over the countries and the ample example for us to follow from various jurisdictions,” he stated.