$100,000 saga: Our motion 'very competent' – Minority

Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed Muburak Muntaka, has said a motion he filed requesting the Speaker to summon members of parliament to probe the $100,000 cash-for-seat saga, was very competent.

His comment comes after Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu had said the emergency motion brought before the house by the Minority vis-à-vis the saga, is so “incompetent” and standing on “wobbly legs” that it cannot be admitted for debate in the house.

In Parliament on Friday, 5 January, the Majority argued that it was befuddling that the Minority will have the Speaker recall the house to debate an issue which was not even signed by the Minority Chief Whip who first raised the matter on the floor of the house as well as the 76 other Minority MPs who purportedly signed the memo to constitute the minimum parliamentary requirement for such a recall.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also wondered why the Minority would have parliament reconvene only to “pray” and “correct votes and proceedings”.

He said the Minority’s motion is fraught with “misrepresentation” and “it will be a gross abuse of the processes of this house to come and pray, to engage in correction of votes of proceedings” instead of focusing on the allegations that the presidency and the Minister of Trade of Industry extorted $100,000 from expatriate businesspeople who joined President Nana Akufo-Addo at an awards dinner late last year.

“…Today we are witnessing a flip-flopping, changing of the goal post, today the motion before us has nothing to do with extortion,” Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said.

“What we have before us is incompetence, it’s a very incompetent motion which cannot be entertained in this house. Mr Speaker people should grow in this house,” he admonished, adding the motion is on “very wobbly legs, this is a veritably incompetent motion, so, I pray you to dismiss it, let them come properly, even if they come today, we are ready to debate.”

But reacting to these comments on the floor, Mr Muntaka said: “I signed for the recall of members, my signature is on the first page of the document.”

He added: “It is most shocking and most injurious on the Majority Leader to even imagine that what was done was wrong.

“The Majority leader thinks he is smart, I challenge him to read Article 112 properly. The constitution talks about – notwithstanding any other provision of this Article – 15 per cent of members may request a meeting of parliament and the Speaker shall, within seven days after the receipt of the request, summon the house. The request is in the memo and that is where my signature is.

“I think we have a competent motion before the house.”