Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu says Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, writing to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to declare his intention of resigning from the Appointments Committee and not communicating that to the leadership of the NDC Caucus could undermine the leadership of the Minority Caucus in Parliament.
He described his resignation as unfortunate, explaining that if a member of a committee is to deliberate on a matter referred to it and the member finds himself in a conflict of interest situation and he is not able to perform his duties, “he will inform his caucus leadership, who will then replace him for the purpose of doing that business”.
Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu told Asaase Radio in an interview monitored by GhanaWeb that, “Well, I think his own resignation from the committee is unfortunate…he does not assign clear reasons. He says they [the reasons] are personal and based on principles, just that. What principles, he does not provide further elucidation.”
“In that regard, I believe I cannot delve into the issues…my own difficulty is that the honourable member [Ablakwa] should have informed his leadership about that. He didn’t do that, he went straight to the Speaker and I thought in that regard, that conduct would have the potential to undermine the leadership of his own caucus which is not good…so technically I will fault him,” he added.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa resigned his Membership of the Appointments Committee on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, after the consensus approval of Ken Ofori-Atta as the Finance Minister nominee.
In a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the MP said he came to the decision ‘after days of careful thought’.
He added: “I shall like to state that the reasons for this difficult decision are both personal and on principle.”
