Afenyo-Markin rejects Bagbin’s ruling on Minority’s cocaine inquiry motion

Following Speaker Alban Bagbin’s decision to dismiss the Minority’s motion for a bipartisan parliamentary inquiry into major narcotics seizures linked to Ghana, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has rejected the ruling, arguing that pending criminal cases should not prevent Parliament from examining broader institutional and systemic issues.

Afenyo-Markin said the Speaker wrongly used the existence of ongoing court cases to determine the scope of Parliament’s oversight role.

“Mr Speaker, therefore, got it wrong by using existing pending criminal proceedings to determine the scope and manner of the inquiry,” he said.

He insisted that the proposed inquiry was focused on public institutions and systems, rather than replacing the work of the courts.

“The image of our country is on trial,” he said.

“We, the minority, we’ll proceed on this path because democracy requires a strong Parliament. A strong Parliament requires an effective minority. A super-majority must never become an excuse to weaken the minority, silence scrutiny, or diminish Parliament’s duty to oversight,” he added.

Afenyo-Markin also warned that weakening Parliament would reduce accountability and checks on state institutions.

“When Parliament is weakened, our accountability is weakened, and the institutions of state are left with fewer checks on the exercise of power,” he said.

The Minority’s motion, filed by First Deputy Minority Whip and Tolon MP Habib Iddrisu, sought an Ad Hoc Committee to investigate how major narcotics consignments were processed, inspected, cleared and exported from Ghana.

Speaker Bagbin had ruled that the proposed inquiry could overlap with matters before the courts, including evidence, witnesses, conduct and questions of responsibility connected to the pending proceedings. He subsequently ruled the motion inadmissible.