Ghana: a 2008 ruling threatens the seat of detained MP Kwame Frimpong
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on 3News
Lawyer Martin Kpebu believes a 2008 ruling by Ghana's Court of Appeal, in the Eric Amoateng case, limits to 15 sittings the absence of an MP authorised by the Speaker. The independent MP for Asante Akyem North, Ohene Kwame Frimpong, held in the Netherlands, did not seek that authorisation, which Kpebu says weakens his seat, 3News reports.
Lawyer Martin Kpebu says a December 2008 ruling by Ghana's Court of Appeal, in the Eric Amoateng case, limits to 15 sittings the absence of an MP that the Speaker can authorise. According to him, quoted by 3News, this case law weakens the seat of MP Ohene Kwame Frimpong, the independent member elected for Asante Akyem North, who is still detained.
Martin Kpebu, a member of the Operation Recover All Loot committee, was speaking on Thursday 5 November on JoyNews' Top Story programme. He recalled that in the ruling Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare versus the Attorney-General and three other parties, the Court of Appeal held that the Speaker cannot authorise an absence of more than 15 sittings. "From what Kweku Asare read, the MP did not even ask for permission, so his situation is even worse," he said.
Ghana's Constitution requires two cumulative conditions to lose one's seat: missing 15 sittings of a session without the prior written authorisation of the Speaker, and failing to provide a reasonable explanation to the parliamentary privileges committee. The Amoateng case dates back to November 2005, when that MP for Nkoranza North, who had gone to the United States with short-term authorisation, was arrested there for drug trafficking; Parliament then voted an indefinite leave, challenged in court by the jurist Stephen Kwaku Asare.
