Ghana’s parliament has been recalled to consider an impeachment proposal submitted to the House against President John Mahama over the Ford car gift he received from a Burkinabe contractor.
The impeachment petition against the president is believed to have been signed by over one hundred minority Members of Parliament.
Article 112 (3) of the 1992 constitution indicates that notwithstanding any other provisions of the article, 15 per cent of members of parliament may request a meeting of the parliament and the Speaker of the House may within 7 days of receipt of the request, summon the house.
With over 100 minority MPs signing the petition, the Speaker was compelled to summon members for a debate over the impeachment proposal.
Parliament is to reconvene on Thursday September 1, 2016 for deliberations to commence.
Following an investigation by journalist Manasseh Azuri Awine of Joy FM, a Burkinabe contractor Gibril Kanazoe confirmed that he had sent a Ford car as gift to President Mahama which the president acknowledged receipt of.
But President Mahama however explained that although he received the vehicle, he added it to the pool of presidential vehicles to be used by the State, indicating he did not use it for his personal convenience.
Meanwhile in an interview with Joy FM, the majority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak described the rationale behind the summons as “a waste of everybody’s time” adding that “I don’t think that this would last more than 3 hours on the floor.
“They are seeing that our president is working hard and appealing to the electorates and their candidate is not able to do that so they want to slow down the whole thing…
“I’m very certain that this is not going to stop our party or president from working very hard to ensure that the people of Ghana re-elect President Mahama to continue the good works he’s doing.”
The brouhaha surrounding the issue generated wide spread discussion in the media space. Some interested parties petitioned the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to look into the matter.
By Martin Asiedu-Dartey|3news.com|Ghana
Twitter: @3newsgh