Sammy Gyamfi must be cited for contempt of Parliament – Ekow Vincent Assafuah

The member of Parliament for Tafo Pankorono constituency, Hon. Vincent Ekow Assafuah has taken a swipe at Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the NDC and charged Parliament to cite him for Contempt over what he describes as “disparaging remarks” made by the latter to ostensibly bring the image of the legislative arm of government into disrepute.

It would be recalled that Parliament, this week, voted to approve the nominations of three ministerial nominees of President Akufo-Addo whom according to the NDC party, should have been rejected by the minority in Parliament. Reacting to the news on his official Facebook wall, Sammy Gyamfi attacked the person of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin and the Leadership of the Minority in Parliament, particularly, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu and Hon. Muntaka Mubarak and in the process, cast a damning slur on the integrity of Parliament.

According to Sammy Gyamfi, the minority side of parliament in pursuit of their “selfish interest”, “sold their conscience” to vote for the President’s nominees adding that “we have a speaker who rode on the back of the NDC into office to PURSUE HIS OWN PAROCHIAL AGENDA AND NOTHING MORE”.

Hon. Ekow Assafuah has described the conduct of Sammy Gyamfi as “an affront to parliament and a blatant breach of article 122 of the 1992 constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, specifically order 30(2)” hence his call for the embattled National Communications Officer of the NDC to be dragged before parliament on contempt charges.

“As a Member of Parliament myself, having sworn an oath of allegiance BEFORE the speaker of parliament, I find it both shocking and highly scandalizing that Sammy Gyamfi would take on the Rt. Hon in such a brazen outburst, which is characteristic of many of his public utterances” he has said.

“I feel highly burdened by my oath of office to protect the sanctity and DIGNITY of parliament. I, therefore, call on well-meaning Ghanaians to join me in particularly condemning the comments of Sammy Gyamfi which in my estimation sought to dent the dignity and sanctity of parliament and the office of the speaker” he added

Hon. Ekow Assafuah has challenged Sammy Gyamfi to provide evidence as to how Speaker Bagbin sought to champion an agenda that was parochial and contravened his constitutional duty stating that “failure to provide any evidence to substantiate his claim, Sammy Gyamfi must be invited to the floor of Parliament within the next 72 hours.”