The Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin has accused the Speaker of Parliament of setting a bad precedent over his decision to refer Kennedy Agyapong to the privileges committee.
In his view, he noted that the Speaker failed to take into consideration the parliamentary procedure.
The legislator said the motion for the MP to be referred to the committed was not seconded, then allowed to express their views on the matter but the Speaker failed to do all these things.
“I felt that as a House, we’ve established our own conventions and practices, and again, we are bound by our rules (standing orders),” he said.
“I am a student of parliamentary jurisprudence, and there’s no way that I would want to go on a path other than the known path of parliamentary jurisprudence. So that is why I felt that the approach is not consistent with the standing orders.”
“Did the speaker see the video, did the honorable member procure the video to mount his argument? That was not what happened,” he added.
The Speaker on Wednesday hauled the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, before the Privileges Committee for allegedly threatening the life of a Multimedia Group journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Bagbin, referred him to the Committee following a submission by the National Democratic Congress MP for Tamale North Alhassan Suhuyini that Kennedy Agyapong has called for serious beatings of the journalist and added that he would have ensured he is beaten mercilessly if he, Kennedy Agyapong, were the President.
Alhassan Suhuyini said that the comments of Kennedy Agyapong, which were at variance with the requirements in the Code of Conduct of Parliament, were an affront to the dignity of Parliament.
