Read full articlethat can hold the most powerful person in the country, the president, accountable any time he goes astray.
He said that even though all Ghanaians have the power to hold the president accountable, they can only do that during an election.
Bagbin added that parliamentarians, who are the representatives of the people, are the protectors of the rights of the citizenry and of the country.
“If anybody is violating your rights and no action is being taken blame the Members of Parliament and Parliament as an institution because they are the defenders of the rights of all the people, all the classes of people.
“They (MPs) can take disciplinary action against the president, nobody else in the interim, until you go to an election where the people will now come in to say that you have disappointed us, we will not vote for you, for years. But within the four years the people that have been mandated to that, take action and discipline the president and any other person are the Members of Parliament and Parliament as an institution.
“And that is why we have that power to impeach a president. It is only parliament. Civil society will come out and talk, the media will give the exposure and all those things, but the action to be taken rests with the people's representative,” he said.
He reiterated that if Ghana’s democracy is not functioning properly, then it means the House of Representation of the People, Parliament, is weak.
The Speaker made these remarks at a press conference in Accra while answering a question on a suit filed against him by an MP on his ruling on the matter of three absenteeism MPs. He referred to the Privileges Committee of the House.
The MP for Ahafo Ano North on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Sulemana Adamu Sanid, has dragged the ruling of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, to the Supreme Court.
The MP is seeking the apex court’s interpretation of the ruling of the Speaker on the matter of absenteeism by his three colleagues.
The three MPs are Sarah Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Agyapong, and Henry Quartey of the Dome Kwabenya, Assin Central, and Ayawaso Central constituencies, respectively.
According to a report by graphic.com.gh, the Ahafo Ano North MP, Sulemana Adamu Sanid, is seeking the Supreme Court’s interpretation on the matter because he disagrees with the verdict of the Speaker of Parliament.
The report added that the NPP MP said he wants “the Supreme Court to clarify the operationalisation of Article 97 (1) (c) to be sure if the ruling by the Speaker of Parliament was in consonance with the 1992 Constitution.”
