The deputy majority leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, has berated the minority caucus in parliament for their intent to remove finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta from office through a vote of censure motion.
During the debate on the report on Ofori-Atta’s censure motion presented to the House by an 8-member ad hoc committee set up to investigate the motion, Afenyo-Markin was bemused by a statement made by the co-chair of the committee, Dr Dominic Ayine.
Dr Dominic Ayine made the point motion against Ofori-Atta was a political process and that he must not be convicted of a crime before he can be removed.
Reacting to this, Alexander Afenyo-Markin said that the ad hoc committee co-chair's remarks were wrong.
“Honourable Dr Ayine you were so candid in your statement that you were relying on Doe Adjaho’s ruling which ruling unstops this House from considering a matter grounded in Article 287 of the Constitution, Conflict of Interest.
“If you know that there is a ruling that outs the jurisdictions of this house when it comes to Conflict of Interest why then did you proceed to make comments on conflict of interest?" he said.
He added that the House proceeding to vote on the report of the committee would be unconstitutional.
“Mr Speaker, I dare contend that should we proceed to vote on this matter, we will be setting a bad precedent which will come to haunt this House one day. Because, Mr Speaker, the finance minister has not been indicted in any way. What will be the basis for a vote,” he argued.
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