�Naked� MP Chased Out

The Minister of Information and Media Relations and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga was yesterday hounded out of Parliament by members of the minority for appearing in the chamber �naked�. Members were debating the motion for the second reading of the Customs and Excise Duties and Other Taxes Amendment Bill, 2013, when New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, drew the speaker�s attention to the �nakedness� of the Information Minister in the chamber. Per the dress code for Members of Parliament, male MPs must wear flying tie when they are in suit but the Information Minister came to the house in suit without any tie to match. In parliament when you are not properly dressed you are seen to be �naked�. When the attention of the first deputy Speaker, who was in the chair, was drawn, he indeed acknowledged that the Information Minister was �improperly� dressed and that was why he did not recognise him even though the Bawku Central MP had tried to catch the attention of the speaker to respond to a concern raised by the Member for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, on the intended purpose to impose taxes on phones being imported into the country. Though the first deputy speaker, Ebo Barton-Odro, had wanted to downplay the concern of the minority members, they insisted by banging on their tables repeatedly that the Information Minister should leave the chamber because he was not properly dressed. A clerk of parliament was, therefore, forced to ensure that the Minister left the house. But within a short time after leaving, he came back wearing a bright yellow tie with parliament�s crest embossed on it to take part in the debate. When he returned, he made sure he caught the attention of the speaker and �sarcastically� bowed down to indicate to the minority members that they could not succeed in driving him away. Earlier in the day, the house had re-constituted an ad hoc committee to draft a code of conduct for all members of parliament after some members of the public accounts committee were �fingered� for using the name of parliament to solicit for private sponsorship to participate in an international programme. The seven-member committee is going to be chaired by Alban Bagbin, NDC MP for Nadowli/Kaleo who is one of the pioneer MPs. Code of Conduct The other members of the committee are Ahmed Ibrahim, NDC MP for Pusiga; George Arthur, NDC MP for Amenfi Central; Joe Ghartey, NPP MP for Essikado/Ketan; Papa Owusu Ankomah, NPP MP for Sekondi and Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, NPP MP for Sunyani West. The constitution of the seven-member committee did not go down well with some members of parliament, especially those on the minority side who thought MPs were old enough to be guided by code of conduct. The NPP MP for Adansi-Asokwa, K.T. Hammond, said the code of conduct will restrict MPs and that MPs are not �kids� to be bound by regulations. The NPP MP for Akuapim North, W.O. Boafo, in his contribution said the code of conduct was in the right direction because it compelled MPs to comport themselves and also be a yardstick for which his or her constituents could determine whether he or she had indeed represented them well in parliament. �I believe the code of conduct would be structured on our cultural values and not on any �imported� values,� he said stressing that private lives of the MPs must be spared by the code of conduct. The NPP MP for Essikado/Ketan, Joe Ghartey, who is also the second deputy speaker, said the code of conduct would be like a shield and sword for the MPs which would help them to protect themselves. According to him, the South African and Sierra Leonean parliaments have similar code of conducts which added a certain value to their second arm of government.