MP Apologises To Speaker

Mr Frank Boakye Agyen, Member of Parliament for Effiduase Asokore, on Tuesday apologised to the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, for a contemptuous statement made against him in a radio interview. Mr Agyen had suggested on an Accra-based radio station that Speaker Adjaho had been politically influenced into standing down the Minority sides bid for a legislative inquest of the sale and acquisition of Merchant Bank Ghana by Fortiz Equity. �I, Honourable Frank Boakye Agyen, do hereby render an unqualified apology to Rt. Hon Speaker for the statement made by me when I was interviewed on 6th Jan 2014 on the subject matter on the motion for the investigation into the sale of Merchant Bank Ghana Limited�. �Among other things, I stated that the Speaker was influenced by Hon. Hannah Tetteh before he gave his ruling on the motion. In fact I have no factual basis in making that statement,� he said and appealed to the Speaker for forgiveness. �Those remarks made by me, were actuated by political motives rather than factual information. Accordingly I withdraw every bit of the statement attributed to me and, hereby, apologise to Rt. Hon. Speaker without any shade of reservation.� Speaker Adjaho accepted his apology and in bringing closure to the matter urged the House to work together in the interest of Ghana. Leaders on both sides of the House also gave the assurance that they would ensure that such incidence are minimised. Mr Agyen is alleged to have told some sections of the media that the Speaker was politically influenced in his ruling on January 6, 2014 on the motion for the House to open investigations into the Merchant Bank-Fortiz transaction. According to him, the Speaker�s ruling was not objective because he was influenced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madam Hannah Tetteh, to throw out the motion. When the House returned from recess, the Speaker expressed his resentment about the MP�s assertions and referred the matter to Parliament�s Privileges Committee. However, the leadership of the House appealed for clemency and pleaded with the Speaker to allow the leadership to handle the matter, which Doe Adjaho agreed.