I Owe No Apology To Parliament – Minority Leader

The Majority members in Parliament yesterday descended heavily on the Minority Leader, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, for refusing to escort President Mills out of the Chamber, after his State of nation Address delivered to the House on February 17 last month.

They insisted that he renders an unqualified apology to Parliament, for breaching the conventions of the House. But Mr. Kyei Mensah Bonsu, in a swift response, reiterated that he owed Parliament no apology, although to err is human. “I was within my rights, I owe no apology to the House,” he insisted.

He explained that after the incident, he had a communication from the President that he had apologized to former President Kufuor and the Chief Justice for failing to acknowledge their presence during his address, so he also, in turn, apologised to the President and the whole country over his conduct.

The Majority, however, insisted that the Minority head ought to apologise to the House, because the action took place in the House and not on radio, where he rendered the apology. This generated a heated debate between both sides of the House, forcing the Speaker to suspend sitting for 30 minutes, to enable the two sides come to a consensus.

The heated exchanges started when the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, Muntaka Mubarak, was making his submission on the motion to thank the President for his address.

The former Minister of Youth and Sports said the Minority Leader’s position was an enviable one, and advised him to try as much as possible, not to let his emotions override him. “The Minority Leader, by every measure from where we come from, is a senior brother and a very respected one. Many of us in this House look up to him for guidance, and he knows that.

We have great respect for him, and by virtue of the office that he occupies, he is Statesman,” he said. His submission attracted a point of order from the MP for Old Tafo, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, who maintained that Alhaji Mubarak ought to stick to the content of the President’s State of the Nation Address. But his submission was rejected by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Madam Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo.

Continuing, Alhaji Muntaka said the Minority Leader’s refusal to escort the President was a great disservice to the nation and the office that he (Minority Leader) was occupying, and urged him to do things that would unite, rather than that which would divide the country.