Law-abiding Akufo-Addo cannot be held to ransom – Atta Akyea to Bagbin

Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has stated that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a law-abiding citizen who will not go contrary to the country's constitution.

His assertion comes amidst Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin's assertion of Parliament's sovereignty.

The rift follows President Akufo-Addo's directive to Parliament, dated March 18, 2024, instructing them to refrain from forwarding the anti-LGBT+ Bill for his assent.

Bagbin responded, affirming Parliament's commitment to safeguarding Ghana's democracy and warning against any governmental attempts to undermine it.

"The Parliament of Ghana, under my leadership, will resist any affront to the democracy of Ghana. We will not allow a government to undermine the sovereign will of the people expressed through their representatives,” Bagbin said in a Facebook post.

However, Atta Akyea, speaking in an interview on Citi News on March 21, 2024, echoed sentiments in support of the President, asserting that even if Akufo-Addo had erred in his letter to Parliament, no constitutional violation was evident in the said letter.

"The speaker believes that the president's letter is an affront to the dignity of Parliament, and Mr. Speaker is also of the view that that amounts to contempt.

“The president cannot bring such a letter to parliament, and because of that, if the president is trying to respect the injunctive processes in the Supreme Court, that is up to the president, but that is an affront to parliament, most of us believe that that cannot be the case at all," citinewsroom.com quoted him to have said in the interview.

He further emphasized, "A law-abiding, law-respecting president cannot be held to ransom. Even if he has made an error, you cannot find anywhere in the constitution that the president has violated. There is no provision in the constitution that offends against the letters from the office of the president."

AM/SARA

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