President Mahama must be impeached at all cost - Osei-Owusu

The Ranking Member for Legal, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Joe Osei-Owusu, has stated that President Dramani Mahama must be impeached at all cost to serve as deterrent to future leaders of the country not to condone bribery.

According to him, checks and balances must work in the country and that the president’s conduct denigrates the presidency.

Members of Parliament (MPs) were summoned by the Speaker to return to Parliament on Thursday after some Minority MPs petitioned Speaker asking for the impeachment of the President over the Ford gift saga.

Speaking on Abusua FM’s Abusua Nkommo hosted by Kwame Adinkrah, he warned that the President is impeached at all cost.

The MP for Bekwai Constituency stated that the President’s acceptance of the ford by the Burkinabe does not augur well for good governance.

‘As long as there is no transparency at the top, we will muddy the down, people will engage in serious corruption if systems do not work.

In Ghana we downplay lot of things, always trying to let things go, but if we don’t extend the frontiers of good governance, we will not accept the notion that there are just friends and that he gave the vehicle to the State. Laws governing MPs and Ministers cannot be over looked. It should serve as deterrent to others, so that those who put GH¢5.00 in envelopes will cease from doing so,’ he asserted.

According to him, after deliberation of the petition in Parliament, the impeachment process will go on after a prima facie evidence is established by the Court.

‘The Constitution states that upon receiving the petition, the Speaker has to hand over the petition to the Chief Justice including four most senior unbiased Judges for investigations, and then the impeachment process will go on if a prima facie is established, MPs will then vote, if one third wins, then the president would be impeached,’ he said.

Asked if they are just testing the law or craving for sitting allowances, he explained that MPs are not paid sitting allowances but paid monthly.