Former Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has questioned the legitimacy of the Speaker of Parliament's, Alban Bagbin's decision to suspend Members of Parliament (MPs), stating that neither the Constitution nor the Standing Orders provide the Speaker with the authority to enforce such measures.

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In an interview on Newsfile on JoyNews, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu acknowledged that the Speaker acted within the framework of Order 342 of the new Standing Orders by referring allegations of misconduct by MPs at the Appointments Committee to the Committee on Privileges and Immunities. However, he emphasized that suspending the MPs for two weeks went beyond the Speaker's legal scope.

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“The Speaker is right to have availed himself of the imperative of Order 342 of the new Standing Orders,” which allows referring matters of privilege to the Committee of Privileges and Immunities.Nevertheless, he expressed doubts about the Speaker's decision to immediately suspend four MPs implicated in the turmoil, stating “Now the question to ask is from where the Speaker is deriving his authority.

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Neither the Standing Orders nor the Constitution grants the Speaker any of such authority.”He clarified that Order 35 grants the presiding officer the authority to remove a member from Parliament due to disruptive conduct, but this removal is limited to the rest of the day’s proceedings, rather than extending for an extended period such as two weeks.

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He stressed that if an incident takes place during the plenary session, “the Speaker has the authority to cause the withdrawal of that person from the presence of Parliament,”Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu also observed that, as the incident took place within a committee, the chairman of the committee should have been the one to handle the situation, rather than the Speaker.

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He concluded that “the Speaker has not only jumped the gun but has gone outside the prescription of the law to impose his sanction. His own attitude and conduct is questionable.”

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