The Majority side of the Parliament appears to be suffering from some credibility deficit with its leaders getting embroiled in issues which are ending up on rather embarrassing note.
The latest issue involves the Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who has received eggs in his face following the denial by two of his colleagues that they committed themselves to a motion asking for the death of the late President, John Evans Atta Mills to be probed 10 years after he was laid to rest.
According to Davis Ansah Opoku, alias “OPK”, the Member of Parliament for Mpraeso in the Eastern Region and Yves Nii Noi Hanson-Nortey, the Member of Parliament for Tema Central in the Greater Accra Region asked that their names be expunge “as co-sponsors of the said motion”.
In a memo dated today, 18th February 2022 and addressed to the Majority Leader and Minister of Parliament Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, the two first time MPs said “our attention has been drawn to a private members motion inviting the Honorable House to constitute a bi-partisan committee to investigate the circumstances that led to the demise of the late President Mills.
The said private member motion purportedly suggests that we, Hon. Davis Ansah Opoku, M.P., Mpraeso; and Yves Nii Noi Hanson-Nortey, M.P., Tema Central, are part of the sponsor of the motion.
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They revealed that “though we are aware of a broader discussion on the motion, we are unaware of any such motion being filed under our instruction and in our names”.
“We, therefore, call on your high office to expunge our names as co-sponsors of the said motion”, the two MPs.
This is the second time in less than a week that Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, who cut his political career doing student politics has gotten himself involved in an embarrassing situation where his credibility and integrity have been called into question.
The first was his claim that the members of the Minority had supplied the E-Levy cake eaten at the Majority Leader’s plush residence in Kumasi to mark his 65th birthday celebration. It turned to be a lie with the Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, saying the cake was rather delivered by a businessman whose name he won’t mention because his businesses will suffer if his identity is revealed but Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, is yet to apologize over the lie.
Recently, the Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, apologised for using a photo purportedly of sand winning activities in Keta in the Volta Region to demonstrate the reason behind the recent tidal waves in that area, but this turned out not to be the case as the image had originated from FreeTown in Sierra Leone.
“I sincerely apologise for relying on this [picture]…I render an unqualified apology. We reasonably relied on this picture in an article, the source has since pulled down, and I apologise, and it was not intended to mislead; if it was so, we wouldn’t have handed over all the documents,” he told Evans Mensah on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, November 15, 2021.
Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the MP for Nsawam Adoagyiri has since Thursday been on every available media space saying he and other MPs namely; Tolon MP, Habib Iddrisu, Mpraeso MP, Davis Opoku Ansah, and Tema Central MP, Yves Hanson Nortey have filed a private member’s motion seeking the constitution of a bi-partisan group to probe the death of the late President Atta-Mills but this has turned out to be a lie.
Interestingly, the Majority Chief Whip is insisting that more MPs from the Majority side of the house have expressed interest in the private members’ motion for a probe into the death of President Atta Mills.
Mills died after his return to Ghana from the US for medical care in 2012.
In an interview with Citi News, Annoh-Dompreh said an investigation into circumstances leading to the death of Atta Mills would help bring finality to rumours surrounding his demise.
“We are getting more of our members who have expressed interest, so it is going to be more than the four,” he said.
According to him, there are many rumours and speculations about the late president’s death, and so a probe will be necessary to clear all doubts.
The legislator also discounted claims that the decision to cause a probe into the matter is not genuine.
“We need to significantly appreciate the fact that he was the Head of State, therefore regardless of the time that has elapsed, to the extent that the matter has not been resolved and even within the country people still talk about it, we believe that we must as a matter of urgency get to the bottom of it. We are not casting any aspersions or clothed in any ulterior motives,” he said.
Though the cause of his death was not released, Atta Mills had reportedly been battling throat cancer, and in the days leading up to his death, had been in the US for some medical attention.
His office announced that Atta Mills died hours after being taken ill.
However, Mills’ brother, Dr. Cadman Mills, later disclosed that he had died from complications of a massive hemorrhagic stroke resulting from a brain aneurysm.
But the Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim has confirmed claims from both MPs, saying he checked with the office of the Speaker and although the two MPs had their names on the motion, their signatures were missing from the motion filed.
“You were there when I asked the Honourable MP, Nii Noi, who categorically stated that he has no knowledge of the motion and therefore they’ve written to their leadership to take their names out of that motion and before I spoke to Nii Noi, I called Honourable Davis Ansah Opoku, the MP for Mpraeso, he also was categorical that he has no knowledge of such a motion and that somebody used their names [he and Nii Noi].
“So I followed up with the Right Honourable Speaker’s office to go and have a look at those who signed or appended their names to the motion. To my surprise, the names Davis Ansah Opoku, Nii Noi, Habib Ibrahim and Annoh-Dompreh were there. However, it was only the signature of Frank Annoh-Dompreh that was appended to the motion. The three other MPs did not sign which confirmed the statement being made by the MP for Mpraeso and Tema Central that they did not append their signature to any motion,” he told Joy’s Kwesi Parker-Wilson.
The Banda MP noted that the severity of the matter demands the House to investigate the issue to avoid putting the House into disrepute.
“This relates to matters of treachery and impersonation. If the MP for Tema Central who relates to the late Professor Mills’ name is being used for a motion for an investigation that he has no knowledge of, this is tantamount to perjury and impersonation and I believe the House as a whole must investigate that act,” he added.
He further stressed that the leadership of the Majority will be hauled before the Privileges Committee to provide answers to the matter.
