Minority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu says a
petition that could lead to impeachment proceedings against President John
Mahama over a Ford vehicle gift from a Burkinabe businessman is not a witch
hunt."I don’t have anything personnel against the president," he told
Joy News's Elton John Brobbey in an interview.
The Suame MP has escalated
the controversy more than two months after Joy News investigative journalist
Manasseh Azure broke the story.
President Mahama took a 2010 Ford
Expedition in 2012 from a Burkinabe contractor and friend, Djibril Kanazoe. The
Presidency has however explained the gift is not being used by the President
personally. It has been donated to the state and is now part of the Presidential
pool of vehicles, government has explained.
But the Minority has breathed
life into the controversy that had died down. A petition signed by more than 100
MPs has activated Article 112 (3) of the Constitution which directs that
parliament must consider a petition signed by at least 15% of MPs which
translates into at least 41 MPs.
He referred to the President’s own
comments in which he insisted he did nothing wrong and challenged his critics to
use constitutional processes if they so desire.
“We are only applying
ourselves to the path that the constitution has provided for us,” the Minority
leader told Joy News’ Parliamentary correspondent Elton Brobbey.
The
Majority has described the Minority’s motion as a “wasteful recall” which
“amounts to nothing”. Tain MP has decried the cost of the recall saying it could
buy five of the 2010 Ford Expedition under contention.
"It is just one
Ford we are going to investigate" Kwasi Agyemang Gyan-Tutu explained to Joy News
that parliament must foot the transportation of each MP.
Some MPs from
the north of the country will have to be paid 2,000 cedis.
The motion
could be gutted by counter motions from the Majority seeking to discourage any
discussion on the matter.
The Minority motion will need a simple majority
to be accepted for debate and a subsequent resolution calling for a bi-partisan
investigation.
CPP Youth Organiser Ernesto Yeboah has backed the
Minority's push for a parliamentary vote on a motion to get the President
investigated for accepting a Ford Expedition gift from a Burkinabe
businessman.
“It is better late than ever” Ernesto Yeboah described the
recall of all 275 MPs to consider a motion filed by the Minority leader Osei
Kyei-Mensah Bonsu.
In a different constitutional move to get to the
bottom of the controversy, the CPP Youth League barely a week after the story
broke on Joy FM, petitioned the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative
Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate Mahama.
Led by Ernesto Yeboah the CPP
Youth maintained that President Mahama contravened Article 284 of the 1992
constitution detailing the CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PUBLIC OFFICERS.
It states
that a public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal
interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the
functions of his office.
Speaking on the latest development, Ernesto
Yeboah said a simple request by the Minority to have the President investigated
should be welcomed by the Majority.
“They are not asking for anything
big,” he said. “Why would you want to prevent any sort of investigation into the
matter” Ernesto Yeboah wondered.
The Majority has expressed displeasure
at the recall with barely three months to the general elections. With Parliament
on recess, the MPs seeking re-election are campaigning. |
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