Go and sin no more – Speaker reprimands Kennedy Agyapong
Parliament on Thursday afternoon reprimanded Assin Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong after he was found guilty by the Privileges Committee for calling the House cheap and useless.
Before proceeding to reprimand him, Speaker Mike Aaron Ocquaye said he should live up to expectation and not let his colleagues down again.
“I agree that if this House should come to the conclusion that indeed the member should go and sin no more, we will not have the opportunity to have this same matter revisited in one form or the other in the annals of the history of this house whether from him or whoever else,” the Speaker said.
When given the opportunity to apologise, Mr Agyapong said some of the things he is purported to have said were misconstrued.
Although he expressed remorse for calling Parliament cheap, he was insistent that he never said the House was useless.
“I plead with the House to remove the word ‘Parliament is useless’ because I never said that…today and tomorrow I will insist I never used the word,” he said.
Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak petitioned Parliament last year for action to be taken against Mr. Agyapong for allegedly describing the House as useless in a TV interview, a charge the MP denies.
Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Mike Aaron Ocquaye
He contended that Muntaka Mubarak’s referral was based on comments taken out of context.
Kennedy Agyapong had described Muntaka Mubarak as dumb for referring him to Parliament’s Privileges Committee over the purported insult.
Mr Mubarak insisted that the Assin Central MP’s conduct was not befitting of a legislator.
But after escaping suspension, the outspoken MP said he does not blame the Committee for taking the decision because the radio presenter moderating the programme on which he made those comments did not allow him to finish his statement.
“I was referring to the First Vice Chair of NPP in Kumasi who had gone on several radio stations to say that criticising Anas – who is fighting corruption – does not make me deserving of an MP. He rained insults on me…the moment I said ‘because Parliament is cheap,’ he did not allow me to finish…when you listen to the audio, you will realise that with anger and everything I could not articulate my issues clearly,” he said.
He added that “I respect parliament and I don’t feel shy apologising when I first made the comment and today too I have apologised again…I sincerely apologise to parliament if they find it offensive that I used that word…”
The Speaker advised him to be very circumspect about the statements he makes thereafter.
Source: Myjoyonline