Haruna Iddrisu’s motion in Parliament a waste of everyone’s time

Haruna Iddrisu, MP for Tamale Central/former Minority Leader in Pareliament Haruna Iddrisu (left) and Cassiel Ato Forson.

A decision on a motion in Parliament by the former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu to remove some four MPs who are contesting as independent candidates in the December 2024 parliamentary election was deferred by the Speaker of Parliament.

While we await the decision of the Speaker, I must say the motion was a bizarre and shocking frolic that completely ignores the most pressing issues in the country.

Members of Parliament who spoke in support of the motion completely ignored one of the issues high up in the minds of Ghanaians yearning for a credible election in December – how to rein in the intransigent Electoral Commissioner and getting her to produce nothing but a free and fair election on 7 December.

That should be the priority of every elected Member, especially those in opposition. What is the electoral fortune of the motion?

With almost seven weeks to the December election, how does removing four rogue MPs revolve the issue of the Electoral Commissioner’s adamant posturing?

It doesn’t in any significant way clip the wings of President Akufo-Addo, who should have been impeached by now.

Top lines

We have had almost 1,500 Ghanaians die in road accidents in the first quarter of 2024 alone, according to public records. The country recorded nearly 10,000 injuries from road accidents within the first six months of this year.

It is a major disaster that requires serious and urgent action by all stakeholders, including Parliament, which ought to enact the necessary legislation to stem the tide, and appropriate the necessary funds to deal with the crisis.

There’s also the wanton destruction of our water bodies and forest reserves and a plastic pollution crisis, plus President Akufo-Addo’s government running the economy aground.

And the first act by the Minority is not a motion to impeach the president for his colossal failure to tackle the illegal mining crisis, nor a bill to prosecute parents such as Bishop Salifu Amoako, whose minor children commit high crimes.

Practicality and common sense dictates that the NDC and its MPs must be focused on reining in the Electoral Commissioner, whose posturing and impunity are very worrying.

Zero impact

At the time of writing this article, we are 52 days away from the 7 December election. There would be no by-election even if the four rogue MPs are removed.

Upon the resumption of Parliament, I expected an urgent question to the Minister for Defence on whether our peacekeeping troops in Lebanon were harmed in any way by the criminal Israeli regime which attacked the position of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon.

I expect a private member’s bill for an amendment to the Coroner’s Act, which requires for every deceased person, including deceased Muslims, to undergo autopsy. This is an issue I raised unsuccessfully when I was MP in the seventh parliament, and one which is of grave concern to Muslims up and down the country, including the majority of the former Minority Leader’s constituents who are Muslims.

All of these issues are ignored for a more hopeless frolic that has zero impact on our fortunes in the upcoming elections nor the issues high up in the minds of suffering Ghanaians.

The former Minority Leader said he was defending the Constitution, which in truth is what every Ghanaian, especially those in elected office, should do.

But at a time defending the Constitution would have been effective and productive, he and just about everyone who spoke in support of the motion abandoned their constitutional obligations, and betrayed the sacred and hallowed oath of office.

Under the watch of the former Minority Leader, the NDC had a chance to cause of the removal of some MPs who had violated the constitution, and cause a by-election. This was in 2022 when the following MPs – Honourable Sarah Adwoa Safo, Honourable Kennedy Agyapong, Honourable Henry Quartey and Honourable Kojo Kum – absented themselves from Parliament without leave from the Speaker.

Never once during this egregious violation of the constitution did we hear the mover of today’s motion talk about defending the Constitution. It took my petition to Parliament, which the Minority even attempted to shoot down, for the matter to be heard and brought before the privileges committee.

At a time when it mattered most, the former Minority Leader abandoned his duty to defend and uphold the Constitution. And, alas, the issue has been conveniently swept under the rug.

We in the NDC are hungry for political power. We are going into a very difficult election where the referee (EC) is clearly biased against us. The sooner we keep our eyes on the most important things, the better for us.

We can’t afford to take our eyes off the ball. Parliament is clothed with all the powers to put the Electoral Commissioner in check. And I hope we make that more of a priority than these injury-time gymnastics that are a waste of everyone’s time.

The life of this parliament is less than three months from coming to an end. There is little or no political capital from removing the MPs going independent.

 

By Ras Mubarak, Note: The writer is a former Member of Parliament and a member of the National Democratic Congress