{"id":630953,"date":"2019-06-04T13:22:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"<br><div>\n<figure class=\"fff post-thumbnail\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img class=\"post_layout_5_img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghana-mma.com\/2019\/06\/speaker-parliament-mike-oquaye.jpg\" alt=\"Parliament sitting"},"modified":"2019-06-04T13:22:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T13:22:23","slug":"parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/04\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"fff post-thumbnail\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"post_layout_5_img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/speaker-parliament-mike-oquaye.jpg\" alt=\"Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case\"\/><\/figure>\n<p>Parliament suspended sitting temporarily for MPs to decide whether the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, should appear in court or not over\u00a0alleged tax evasion and fraud.<\/p>\n<p>The Speaker\u2019s decision to suspend the House is to allow for consultations leading to his ruling on the said matter.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, the Bawku Central MP made an application to the speaker to rule and give direction on the issue following his summons to court to face charges proffered against him by the Special Prosecutor in court.<\/p>\n<p>Making his case before the speaker, Mr. Ayariga said stressed his willingness \u201cto go to court and defend myself and prove my innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I want us to appreciate that under the constitutions of Ghana, there is a limited immunity granted to honorary members of parliament,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The constitution notes that:<\/p>\n<p><dir><dir>There shall be freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Parliament and that freedom shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.\u00a0Subject to the provisions of this article, but without prejudice to the general effect of article 115 of this Constitution, civil or criminal proceedings shall not be instituted against a member of Parliament in any court or place out of Parliament for any matter or thing brought by him in or before Parliament by petition, bill, motion or otherwise.<\/dir><\/dir>\u201cIt is this simple principle Mr. Speaker that I invite you to rule on so that we can set proper precedents for the governance of our democracy and the running of our country,\u201d Mr. Ayariga stated.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Ayariga has challenged the\u00a0Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu, who is pursuing him in court over claims.<\/p>\n<p>He insists that the Special Prosecutor must follow due process as he probes the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Amidu sued Mr Ayariga and subsequently wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye to \u201crelease\u201d the Bawku Central legislator to appear in court on Tuesday, June 4 to answer to some criminal charges against him.<\/p>\n<p>But the MP who just returned from Abuja on Parliamentary duties described the invitation as \u201cinappropriate\u201d and will not honour it.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"ctx-article-root\"\/>  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parliament suspended sitting temporarily for MPs to decide whether the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, should appear in court or not over\u00a0alleged tax evasion and fraud. The Speaker\u2019s decision to suspend the House is to allow for consultations leading to his ruling on the said matter. Earlier, the Bawku Central MP made an application to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":630954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-630953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/04\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Parliament suspended sitting temporarily for MPs to decide whether the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, should appear in court or not over\u00a0alleged tax evasion and fraud. 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Earlier, the Bawku Central MP made an application to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53d06a757a4242f113d200e3c290c036\"},\"headline\":\"Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-04T13:22:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":357,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/04\\\/parliament-sitting-temporarily-suspended-over-ayariga-court-case\\\/\",\"name\":\"Parliament sitting temporarily suspended over Ayariga court case - 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