I Didn’t Do Any Wrong- “Rude” Sefwi Wiawso MP

The Member of Parliament for Sefwi Wiawso Constituency, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, has defended his conduct in Parliament on Monday, which was characterised as rude by the Speaker, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.

He is therefore not prepared to render an apology to the Speaker and registered his displeasure at Frank Annoh Dompreh, the Majority Chief Whip who apologised on his behalf after the incident that saw him walk out of the plenary.

According to him, the Whip had no right to apologise on his behalf.

He contends that he did no wrong and thereby no need to render an apology even if it will cost him his seat.

“He doesn’t have my permission to do that. For this I can put it on record…If it will cost my seat, we will contest it…I haven’t done anything wrong, why should I apologise?  So far I haven’t done anything wrong. I haven’t insulted the Speaker, I haven’t disrespected him. Where is the disrespect?”

According to him, he only called the Speaker to order as he is fond of overstepping his boundaries.

“How can you interpret that as rude?… He (Speaker) likes walking into the arena for MPs. He was an MP before so I sympathise with him. Sometimes he forgets himself so somebody will have to remind him that he is a Speaker and he has to be neutral,” he said in an interview on Eyewitness News monitored by opemsuo.com

Background
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin was forced to drive out of the plenary the Member of Parliament for Sefwi-Wiaso, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, following “rude and disrespectful” comments.

This emanated from some directions by the Speaker for the approval or otherwise of two nominations to the Supreme Court by President Nana Addo Dakwa Akufo-Addo.

In his submission on July 22, the Speaker said, “Please you have to apply the new standing orders in this matter…In giving you the information, I gave you an idea of the expectations of the people of Ghana.

“That is for you to consider as part of the report and it’s for the house to decide as to whether we will approve or disapprove those nominations. His Excellency clearly stated that he is constitutionally injuncted to do what he has done so it’s now for you to also look at it.”

The representative from Sefwi-Wiawso quickly reacted to the statement by the Speaker asserting, “I believe that as representative of the good people of Sefwi-Wiawso, it does not lie in your mouth to remind us of the things that you said.”

His comment did not go down well with the speaker who condemned it as rude and disrespectful and ordered the marshals to walk the lawmaker out of the plenary.

“This is a completely rude remark and I can send you out of the house now in light of my authority to do so. You represent the good people of Sefwi-Wiaso, I represent the whole country. Please, Marshal, take him out of the house. I will not tolerate such disrespect.”

The Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, quickly responded to the situation and apologized to the Speaker for the conduct of their member.

“So, I want to, on behalf of the entire caucus and my colleagues, render my apologies to you and your office, and we hope that this draws the curtains, and let’s bring matters into, we are very sorry, we apologize sincerely for what happened. I say this on behalf of the member, and also on behalf of the entire caucus, we are sorry.”