Why is Nkoranza North still unrepresented - GNP

I Speak Of The Truth : On behalf of the people of Nkoranza North!!!!!

On August 30th 2006, the majority leader and Minister of Parliamentary affairs Mr. Felix Owusu Adjapong demystified circumstances surrounding the rejection of the resignation letter from the embattled Member of Parliament for Nkoranza North constituency Mr. Eric Amoateng, by the speaker of Parliament Mr. Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes. Mr. Owusu Adjapong was reacting to Press questioning on the Amoateng resignation issue. This issue has left the Nkoranza North constituency without an active Member of Parliament for almost Nine Months.


As to whether the people of Nkoranza North are not being left out in the share of the National cake since their representative is locked up in the USA prison, Mr. Adjapong replied that his area is not being left out. He claims that he personally ensured that more roads were constructed for the people. (This is as if road construction is all that the people of Nkoranza North needs; even if that answer is true).


It is no secret that Mr. Amoateng is currently in detention in the United States of America for allegedly trafficking in cocaine, after his arrest last November 2005, in America.


Article 97, clause C of our constitution states that, A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT SHALL VACATE HIS SEAT IN PARLIAMENT if he is absent without permission in writing to the speaker, and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the parliamentary committee on privileges for fifteen (15) sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet.


The article requires that a member’s resignation or permission should be addressed to the speaker of the assembly. It is believed that Mr. Amoateng submitted a written resignation letter recently, which was rejected because the letter was copied to the speaker and not addressed to him as required by the constitution.

In all fairness and sincerity, to the people of Nkoranza North and the whole Country, if Mr. Amoateng did submit a resignation letter, it may have been delivered through his Lawyer. Let us assume that Amoateng is not abreast with the constitutional demands of article 97 C. What stops the speaker or the Minister of Parliamentary affairs directing Amoateng’s Lawyer to communicate with his client to redirect his resignation letter to the speaker of the National Assembly?


Fellow Ghanaians, Mr. Amoateng was on a private trip to the United States of America, on a diplomatic passport; so in the first place, it was a disgrace to the Country for him to be arrested and charged for illicit cocaine trafficking; Even though he must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. I would view the whole Amoateng issue under a different microscope if he was arrested traveling on a Ghana government delegation. Under the circumstance, should the system wait beyond nine months to declare his constituency seat vacant?


Speaking the truth, the answer is emphatically No! And I do not want to be called upon to defend the truth because I speak of the truth. The people of Nkoranza North deserve better than that. In my opinion, the NPP government is deliberately holding onto the seat for fear of losing it to any other party in a bi-election for their inability to deliver promises to the people of Ghana. If you do well, goodness shall follow you all the days of your life.


In Ghanaian Politics, all we know and hear, often during election years, is that Government in power constructing roads. These roads, we know, only lasts two raining seasons, especially in the rural areas like the Nkoranza North where Owusu Adjapong claims he has caused roads to be constructed in the absence of Eric Amoateng. The rest of the necessities of life to the people of Nkoranza North and the whole country have never been their concern. Owusu Adjapong cannot honestly and truthfully tell us that he can effectively deal with all the responsibilities under him as Minister of Parliamentary affairs, his own Akyem Swedru constituency, where he is the member of parliament, and be there all the time for the people of Nkoranza North.


That is why in my opinion, the Government should go and demand a second resignation letter addressed to the speaker of the assembly, from Eric Amoateng through the Ghana consular office in New York or more preferably his Lawyer. There is absolutely no reason at all left but for us to think that the Government’s inability to deal with this issue of Nkoranza North is an attempt to protect Amoateng and the interest of the NPP holding on to the seat.

In my objective analysis of the issue, I have come up with series of questions which I would want readers to transcend beyond party politics NPP, NDC, CPP, and others, and demand answers since it is a National issue which the Press could not demand answers from Owusu Adjapong:


1) Is Amoateng still being paid on the Tax payer sitting in a New York jail?


2) If the answer is yes, is it justified?


3) If the answer is No, why then is his position as an MP being protected?


4) Did Amoateng send a letter in writing to ask for permission to be absent from Parliament beyond fifteen days?

5) If the answer is NO, then has he not by article 97.C vacated his seat as a representative of the people of Nkoranza North?


6) If the answer is YES, who did he address that letter to?


Governments in Ghana operate like secret societies (LODGE). There is No truthfulness, No transparency, No openness; therefore, there is no reason for me to believe that we are going to get answers to these pertinent questions above. The day of reckoning shall surely come. Until then, don’t let us use technicalities within the constitution to protect the Nkoranza North seat for Eric Amoateng any further. For heavens sake, if he is still being paid his monthly salary, languishing in a New York Jail, let the honorable Minister for Parliamentary affairs Felix Owusu Agyepong come out with the truth. Because I speak of the truth, and I will never be called to defend the truth.