Reckless Attack On President J.J. Rawlings And Daughter. Must Article 115 Of Ghana's Constitution Be Blame, Or Concerns Of Article 94 Clause 2b ii Imminent?

Recent developments in Parliament of Ghana exposes a deficit in some members of Parliament (MPs)’s understanding of why they were elected, and what their representation in the Chamber of Parliament mean or signify. At least the appreciation of the fact that they are not planted a seat in the chamber to sit on and misbehave, make pronouncements or be part of decisions on their own volition without consulting or respecting the plight and ‘spirit’ of their constituencies, would have reminded them of how important it is to comport themselves at the national stage mostly on national television for their respective constituencies to be proud of their voices heard at the national level.

What many of the MPs are probably failing to understand and appreciate is the fact that they are no longer in campaign mode, and are not only representing members of their political parties in their respective constituencies. How many of them can produce empirical statistics of those who voted for them in their constituencies when the voting was a secret exercise? None! The reason their conscience must be guided by advancing what is in the best interest of the constituency and not their political parties' headquarters expectation only, for no voter will waste a vote on arming their MP to insult their colleagues MPs, call distinguished Statesmen derogatory names and tag them with crimes that are not factual.

Equally, no sound voter will send their MP to Parliament in a ‘SILLY CHILD’ fashion, raise chairs to disrupt proceedings on purpose, and in a weight lifting fashion lift tables and break taxpayers acquired properties like microphones and table legs on national television. Or to represent them in frustrating and making a government of the day they the same constituents voted for, ungovernable, instead of brainstorming, criticizing constructively and offering prudent alternatives of doing things for the benefit of the people of Ghana which they form part.

It appears some members of Parliament are beginning to abuse the Rights and protection the Constitution of Ghana extends to the legislature, to exert dishonorable behaviors and pass untruthful and reckless statements and accusations against citizens, Statesmen, and even the dead. They do it without a scintilla of regret on the floor of parliament, and even pad it with laughter probably believing that they can continue to hide under Article 115 of Ghana's Constitution which states;

"There shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament"

Must this freedom of speech, debate and proceedings give them the freedom to insult fellow parliamentarians and their families, including the deceased, as in the recent incident in parliament emanating from the side of the minority NPP? The former president of the land, who is known to be the founder of the 4^th Republic, affirmed by many, including former president Nana Akuffo Addo who the same minority members in Parliament seek to idolize, cannot be disrespected in that manner, especially when he is not alive to defend himself. But some of us alive will defend to the fullest decent and brave human beings who in their passage in the turbulent canals, tunnels and surface of life had only one mission at heart, and it is HUMANITY, Knowing very well that cowards only attack the brave when they are in their grave.

To remind some of the MPs in the NPP Minority whose retinas continue to capture nothing Ghana but the NPP party, if they have forgotten, Nana Akuffo Addo, in a tribute to the former president J. J. Rawlings of blessed memory who is now under attack, on November 12, 2020, on his Facebook page wrote,

“I expressed my deepest condolences to the family, and reiterated the decision to honour the memory of President Rawlings, the founder of the 4^th Republic, with a fitting State Funeral. May his soul rest in perfect peace!!”

This was a testament to the legacy of President Rawlings that the immediate past President, Nana Akuffo Addo Dankwah affirmed. President Rawlings’ efforts is one of the reasons the 9^th Parliament can sit in Parliament today for its members to be recognized as MPs, only for a loose talker among the members to have the audacity to attack President Rawlings and his daughter in such a manner on national television.

Is it because the Oath of parliamentarian is silent on ‘telling the truth and nothing but the truth without fear or favor’ line as evident in the Oath that reads,

“I,……having been elected a member of Parliament do (in the name of the Almighty God swear) (solemnly affirm) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Republic of Ghana as by law established; that I will uphold, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana; and that I will faithfully and conscientiously discharge the duties of a member of Parliament. (So help me God)” that is currently exposing some deficiencies in Parliament lately?

Maybe, it is the absence of the sentence, ‘I shall speak the truth nothing but the truth and behave honorably’ in the Oath of Parliamentarians that emboldened the ghost MP (at least for now) to make that reckless statement that sought to portraying the former president JJ Rawlings as a murderer, and the subsequent cowardly stance of the members of the NPP Minority’s inability to tell the truth and pinpoint in whose dishonorable mouth, that statement came from. Is the loose talker not a man enough to own up to his statement? Why is he hiding under the despicable shield of silence by the minority relative to who made that statement?

Not owning up to the reckless statement and wasting the nation's time and resources to investigate who the culprit is, when other equally important issues are there to be addressed is shameful and dishonorable.

Will the outcome of the investigation indict the MP who uttered that dishonorable statement to have committed perjury, or withheld information for days, since all MPs are under Oath in Parliament? Will it be a case of financial loss to the State, since instead of owning up to saving Parliament some productive time and resources he chose to remain quiet to trigger an investigation?

Will he be dragged to the privileges Committee soon, and are we going to be soon, fed with the usual Privileges Committee findings and recommendations that are thirsty for apologies? Or it will be the usual suspension that never reaches even 90 degrees of its full circle, and will the Speaker as usual be silenced by noise of not having the Right and power to suspend?

CCTV cameras must not be tempered with, and must prove they are active and capable of capturing every single detail of happenings in the event any unexpected attack, accident or danger were to happen that will require investigations to get first hand unadulterated facts and evidence, and to assure the General Public and the MPs that they can rely on those gadgets in the future to help in proactively taking steps to remedy future unfortunate incidents. It will also deter not only members of the house from engaging in some dishonorable behaviors or tendencies that will undermine the legislature and by extension the citizenry in the various constituencies being represented, but any other uninvited person when they find themselves in the confines of Parliament for any reason.

Parliament must purge itself of any perception relative to conspiracy to deceive or fool the people of Ghana, for why should it take days and call for investigations from various quarters, including chiefs, to know where a statement made during deliberation on the floor of Parliament through the microphones of the house came from and who made it?

By that reckless statement, families have been abused, communities disgraced, the nation scandalized, the office of former presidents defamed, the legacies of the former president J.J Rawlings bruised, and the integrity of Parliament and the honorable statuses of members of Parliament questioned badly.

It is about time Ghana as a nation critically look at the qualifications of who becomes a member of Parliament, especially the mental readiness, by institutionalizing and employing the services of astute psychologists to clinically examine the sound mindedness of potential or elected MPs. They probably must be made to present a Certificate of clearance to the Speaker before their Oaths are administered, for Article 94 Clause 2b ii of Ghana’s Constitution strongly supports this eligibility qualification of a Member of Parliament and It states,

“2- A person shall NOT be qualified to be a member of Parliament if he-

b- has been adjudged or otherwise declared
ii- to be of unsound mind or is detained as a criminal lunatic under any law in force in Ghana.”

I look forward to the minority leadership fully cooperating in any investigation aimed at finding who the real culprit is. MPs after winning elections on the ticket of their political parties must endeavor to think and act like Independents for the sake of unity, peace, transparency, accountability and national development.

A simple checklist for MPs before they speak or act could be, am I speaking the facts, am I advancing the plight and interest of my constituents in the ambit of Peace, National Interest and Unity, and in the confines of Rule of Law?

If the answers to these simple questions are all yes, then the Member of Parliament will not be begging his or her constituency as an MP to be reelected. The constituents will rather plead with the MP to continue as their representative in Parliament, no matter the political campaign gimmicks, theatrics and the propaganda, the MP will be their choice in the voting booths in any free and fair elections.

I will passionately and respectfully call on the Right Honorable Speaker Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin to spare at least 20 minutes of each sitting to go through Chapter 10 of the Constitution of Ghana until it is evident to his own estimation that the ‘waywardness’ with all due respect in Parliament as evident recently has minimized appreciably to the admiration of all, for Ghanaians need a reincarnation of the spirit and beauty of Parliament in the early years of the 4^th Republic, especially in the 3^rd Parliament.

The MPs on the other hand, with all due respect, may make it a point to in addition to the call on the Speaker, download the audio version of Chapter 10 of the Constitution and listen to it with wrap attention on their way to Parliament from home everyday. Their drivers and bodyguards, if they have one, stand to benefit a lot from equally listening, to better assess them, understand them and offer better service and protection to them.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.