Member of Parliament for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga has begun a showdown with the Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, stating he cannot avail himself in court Tuesday to be tried for alleged tax evasion and abuse of office.
Mr Amidu in March filed his first case against Mr Ayariga and subsequently wrote to the Speaker of Parliament to “release” the MP to appear in court on June 4 to answer some criminal charges against him.
But the MP who just returned from Abuja on parliamentary duties have responded to the SP describing the invitation as “inappropriately” hence will not honour same.
Justifying why he cannot attend court session on Tuesday, the MP said “absenting myself from sittings of parliament for a certain number of days without the Speaker’s permission, could be grounds for my removal from parliament”.
In a terse response to the SP dated June 2, Mr Ayariga raised key constitutional issues, stating unequivocally that the Speaker of Parliament has no right to “release” a sitting Member of Parliament to be arraigned in court.
“Be informed that any conduct on your part that in anyway impedes or obstructs my right to be in parliament on 4th June and represent the good people of Bawku will amount to contempt of parliament,” Mr Ayariga stated.
“I believe you have read article 122 of the constitution. The language of article 122 does bind even the Speaker of parliament,” he added.
The MP contended that Amidu’s letter inviting the Speaker of Parliament “to engage in an unconstitutional conduct” could cause the Speaker to also be cited for contempt of parliament.
Source: 3news.com
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I have said this over and over again and will continue repeating it, that there are some elements in the NDC who maintain that by virtues of their academic qualification and mere being able to articulate themselves well in the Queen's language they have the tenet of a politician and can just assume themselves so. Those elements of the NDC I'm referring to are those who rose from campus mock politics to Ministers of state. And they are those their founder referred to as babies with sharp teeth in terms of lying and insulting their way out without substance and thoughtful political message. I guess, a prominent Ghanaian Lawyer had made a referrence to a precedence which dealt with similar case by law and Mr. Ayariga is better adviced to be guided by it. The insolence and the sharp teeth posture is here not advisable.
Your action alone makes you guilty of the offence. If you had a defence it would have done you good to go and defend yourself to prove the SP wrong. But using Parliamentary immunity has really given you up. You were a beneficiary of the tractors Kufuor's govt imported for farmers. But you greedy bastards shared it to yourselves when you came to power in 2009. Always feeding fat on Ghana resources. Shame.
This greedy thi.ef is hiding behind parliamentary immunity. Parliament will go on recess and we will see what he will say. Ask permissionfrom speaker and go and defend yourself and stop running away. You accused your colleagues in parliament for taking bribe. This is your turn.
Let's stop making prejudicial comments and follow the story. Let's learn for our own good.
Martin Amidu throw one stone..............
This man makes me sick. Hiding behind parliament. Nobody is above the law.
Please Mr. Ayariga, let me tell you frankly that you will be prosecuted for the crimes you have committed against Ghana. You can run but cannot hide.
You guys were making noise that the special prosecutor can not do his job. Now that he is doing his job you are scared and running away.
Therefore if you are a parliamentarian you immune from prosecution. What a country we live in.