Foreign Affairs Minister and MP for the Awutu Senya West constituency, Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Agrictulture, Fiifi Kwetey and 19 other MPs have been sued for consistently absenting themselves from Parliament.
Odekro, an advocacy platform seeking to promote transparency and accountability which sued the MPs had earlier petitioned the Speaker of Parliament complaining about the conduct of some 125 legislators.
[contextly_sidebar id=”P77wFBtGBkth2CEjkx4KePqbusT3ByFB”]In a letter dated December 2 2015, Odekro listed the names of 125 out of the 275 MPs, who it said are in breach of Article 97(1) (c) of the Constitution which states that an MP shall vacate his or her seat if:
“He is absent, without the permission in writing of the Speaker and he is unable to offer a reasonable explanation to the Parliamentary Committee on Privileges from fifteen sittings of a meeting of Parliament during any period that Parliament has been summoned to meet and continues to meet.”
The group argues that they resorted to the court because “the Speaker of Parliament failed to acknowledge receipt of our letter and he also failed to honour our request to declare the seats of the defaulting MPs vacant. Consequently, we have instructed our lawyers to file a suit at the High Court asking the court to declare the seats of the 21 worst-offending MPs vacant.”
Below is the full list of the MPs sued by Odekro:
1. Evans Paul Aidoo (Sefwi-Wiawso) – 188 Sittings
2. Hannah Serwaah Tetteh ( Awutu-Senya West) – 176 Sittings
3. Eric Opoku ( Asunafo South) – 165 Sittings
4. Akwasi Opong-Fosu ( Amenfi East) – 155 Sittings
5. (Dr) Dominic Akuritinga Ayine ( Bolgatanga East) – 150 Sittings
6. (Mrs) Queenstar Pokua Sawyerr,( Agona East ) – 135 Sittings
7. Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo (Kpone-Katamanso) – 132 Sittings
8. Mark Woyongo ( Navrongo Central ) – 126 Sittings
9. Clement Kofi Humado ( Anlo) – 124 Sittings
10. Maj. (Rtd) Mustapha Ahmed ( Ayawaso North) – 118 Sittings
11. Fiifi Fiavi Franklin Kwetey (Ketu South) – 110 Sittings
12. Alhaji Bashir Fuseini Alhassan (Sagnarigu) – 102 Sittings
13. James Agalga ( Builsa North) – 97 Sittings
14. Abdul-Rashid Hassan Pelpuo (Wa Central)- 94 Sittings
15. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah (Mfantseman West) – 92 Sittings
16. Ken Ohene Agyapong ( Assin Central) – 89 Sittings
17. Collins Dauda ( Asutifi South) – 89 Sittings
18. Ahmed Arthur (Okaikwei South) – 84 Sittings
19. Grace Addo ( Manso Nkwanta) – 83 Sittings
20. Joseph Boakye Adu Danquah (Abuakwa North) – 76 Sittings
21. Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye – 75 Sittings
The group further added that “by this action, Odekro intends to establish a legal precedent with which to sue the remaining defaulting MPs to vacate their seats.”
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana