The Deputy General Secretary for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahene, has debunked allegations that the Party takes delight in suspending Members of Parliament who go independent.
This comes after the NPP officially wrote to Parliament asking the speaker to declare the Fomena seat in the Ashanti Region vacant.
This was after the NPP MP for the area, Andrew Amankwah Asiamah had filed his nomination to contest this year’s election as an independent candidate.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Article 97(1)(g) of the 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’. The Party has therefore taken the necessary steps to inform the Speaker of Parliament of the above circumstances, for appropriate action to be taken,” John Boadu said in a statement.
Reacting to the issue on Atinka FM’s AM Drive with host Ekourba Gyasi, Nana Obiri Boahene explained that an MP forfeits his or her membership when he or she files as an independent candidate.
He maintained that according to the party’s constitution, an MP is either expelled, suspended or forfeits his or her membership when he goes independent.
“The NPP constitution says that if you file as an independent, then automatically you have forfeited your membership. There is suspension, forfeiture and expulsion and there are differences and therefore this MP who has filed as an independent candidate seizes to be a member of the NPP. So people are making a mistake, the NPP did not sack him, he sacked himself”, he said.
Ghana | Atinkaonline.com | Vivian Adu Boatemaa