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Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, has questioned the logic of critics who are accusing the ruling party of violating laws regarding the conduct of parliamentarians by seeking to remove the Fomena Member of Parliament from the House.

He wonders the basis upon which the beleaguered MP should be entertained in Parliament after literally snubbing the party whose back he rode on to represent his constituents.

Obiri Boahen was reacting to concerns raised by some political actors after the NPP officially wrote to Parliament asking the Speaker to declare the Fomena seat in the Ashanti Region vacant.

Going Independent

The ruling party's action was premised on the MP for the area, Andrew Amoako Asiamah's decision to file his nomination to contest this year’s election as an independent candidate.

But despite the MP's action, some have raised eyebrows about the timing of the NPP’s correspondence describing it as a bad precedence.

Vacant Seat?

General Secretary for the NPP, Mr John Boadu, last week communicated to the Speaker, Rt Hon, Mike Oquaye that Hon Amankwah Asiamah has forfeited his NPP membership per the Article 3(9) of the party’s constitution and Article 97(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.

The ruling party's constitution indicates that, any member of the party who supports or campaigns for an independent parliamentary candidate ahead of the forthcoming general elections also automatically forfeits his/her membership of the NPP.

Whereas Article 97(1)(g) of Ghana's Constitution states that “A member of Parliament shall vacate his seat in Parliament if he leaves the party of which he was a member at the time of his election to Parliament to join another party or seeks to remain in Parliament as an independent member.”

No Locus; Purely Intimidatory Tactics!

But days after that the NDC Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, held strongly that the NPP has no locus to ask that the Fomena seat be declared vacant and urged the Speaker of Parliament to quash their request.

He believed the ruling party is simply acting in an intimidatory manner to cower the MP into submission.

“ . . what the constitution stipulates is that if you are a Member of Parliament and you come to Parliament and you want to cross carpet from the party on whose ticket you came to Parliament to another party, then you lose your seat....the Fomena MP is entitled to sit in Parliament and partake in deliberations in the house until the end of his tenure of office as MP elapses.

“NPP has no power or whatsoever to withdraw him from Parliament . . . they (NPP) just want to intimidate him and to scare him to withdraw his nomination as an independent candidate in his constituency and that has nothing to do with us here,” the Bawku Central MP stated.

Do's And Dont's

Commenting on the issue on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Nana Obiri Boahen stressed that since political parties are regulated by unique statutes, one is obligated to abide by these rules so long as they remain part of the group.

He added that one cannot still seek to act in an individual capacity whiles operating within the ambit of these groups.

“You have the dos and the don'ts . . . and these regulations are part of every group including political parties. In the NPP, if you are a member of the party, you can be suspended, or sacked and it is also possible to forfeit your membership . . . 

“The NPP’s Constitution stipulates that the day you file as an independent candidate, it is not the NPP that has expelled you but by your action, you have forfeited your membership . . . automatically, he (Fomena MP) has forfeited his membership. He is no longer part of the party”.

“You came to Parliament on a ticket of a political party, so the moment you file as an independent candidate, you cease to be a member of the NPP; automatically, you have expelled yourself from the NPP and therefore by the tenets of the party's constitution, you ceased to also be a Member of Parliament on the ticket of the party for that constituency . . . ," he explained.

Whiles justifying the party's correspondence to Parliament, the deputy NPP General Secretary sought to know what description critics of the NPP's action will give to the MP, if perchance, they are to address him. 

" . . John Boadu did not err in writing to Parliament. Because he was only seeking to bring to the attention of the Speaker, happenings within the ruling party which has bearing on a Member of Parliament who at the start of this Parliament won his seat to represent his constituents on the NPP's ticket . . . but he has now forfeited his membership by virtue of his conduct . . . that is the basis of the letter to Parliament . . . there was nothing wrong with it; the NPP was right and so was John Boadu . . . In any case, if he has snubbed the party by going independent, why can't the NPP also ditch him? . . . besides, having decided to go solo, will the NDC describe him (Fomena) as an NPP MP or an independent candidate?" Obiri Boahen quizzed.