Minority may go to court over Mrs Kusi

Accra, Oct 4,GNA - The Minority in Parliament on Friday said they might seek a court order to compel the Chairperson of the Committee on Mines and Energy to withdraw her membership from two boards she was supposed to supervise.

"There are several options which includes going to court at our disposal as we wait for her to reconsider her stand on the issue." Mr Doe Adjaho, the Deputy Minority Leader told the GNA. He said the Minority would test the legal principle of the conduct of public officers and see if "we can find a case of a conflict of interest" in her case.

The Minority last week issued a statement appealing to President John Agyekum Kufuor to withdraw Mrs Gifty Eugenia Kusi, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mine and Energy, from the boards of National Petroleum Authority and Goldfields Mining Company. The group's statement signed by Mr Mahama Ayariga, Spokesman on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, said Mrs Kusi's membership of the two boards would prejudice her work as a Chairperson of the Committee.

It would put her in a position that is likely to create a conflict of interest in relation to her current position in Parliament. Mr Adjaho said: "I wonder how she is going to moderate on the Mining Bill that is coming before the House as we all know she has to chair the committee work on the Bill. She should know by now that she is compromising herself."

According to the Deputy Minority Leader, the group would ask its members on the Committee to cease recognizing her as the Chairperson of the group in order not to soil themselves with illegalities. Mrs Kusi last Wednesday told the GNA that she does not see how her membership of those boards would compromise her duties in Parliament. She said she was insignificant as far decision making on those boards were concerned.

The Committee on Mines and Energy has oversight responsibility for the Ministry of Mines and Energy and all institutions, both public and private and boards administering these entities.