Anti-Gay Bill: ‘You can’t usurp Speaker’s power, keep quiet’- Sam George tackles Kyei-Mensah

“You’ve granted interview on a bill you’ve not read, you’ve no power to interpret standing orders of parliament, you’ve no power to admit bills in parliament, you neither have power to determine whether the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill if passed into law will impose a cost on consolidated fund or not, so…keep quiet and respect the mandate of the Speaker Bagbin who has exclusive authority to admit bills and interpret rules of engagement”, Ningo-Prampram Member of Parliament Sam Nartey George has told Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu.

The latest strong message from the Lead Sponsor of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 Sam George to Kyei-Mensah Bonsu follows remarks by the Suame MP that the ant-LGBTQ+ Bill may be an empty exercise because it breaches laid down rules and portions of the 1992 Constitution.

Commenting on the Bill in an interview monitored by African Editors on Wednesday 13 October 2021 in Accra, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu who admitted that he has not read the bill, said the anti-LGBTQ+ Bill will suffer rejection because of procedural breaches and impropriety based on provisions enshrined in the supreme laws of Ghana.

According to him, “a bill that will impose costs on consolidated fund must be introduced to parliament by President Akufo-Addo or the Attorney General who is the Chief Legal Advisor of government in line with law and not as a Private Member Bill led by MPs, insisting that the efforts by the sponsors of the anti-gay bill will be an empty exercise”.

In a sharp reaction, Sam George said “You’ve no power to interpret stand orders of Parliament or preside over proceedings, you aren’t the Speaker, it’s solely the Speaker Alban Bagbin’s power to interpret rules and preside over proceedings of parliament and he has already admitted the bill …so what’s Kyei-Mensah Bonsu talking about?”.

“Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu has to be used to fact that Bagbin is no longer his colleague and they don’t exercise same power. He should acquaint himself with the transition from being MP to the Speakership. He doesn’t have the mandate and power of the speaker to interpret rules of the house “.

For Sam George, Kyei-Mensah Bonsu’s suggestion that we should liaise with the Attorney General would not work, I will not, we’re almost done”, he noted.

Source : africaneditors.com