Minority’s attempt to Impeach Osafo-Maafo described as a ‘wild goose chase’
An International Relations expert has ruled out a possible success of an attempt by Minority legislators to impeach Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo – describing it as an exercise in futility.
Dr Vladmir Antwi-Danso, a Senior Research Fellow at the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), said Monday evening that, at best, the process initiated by the Minority to remove the Minister and Member of Parliament, will be an intriguing exercise to test the Constitution.
”It will be a wild goose chase,” he said.
“Personally, if you asked me, I wouldn’t say [the impeachment process] is very necessary. But politics is politics and we are all students of politics. So I am intrigued and I want to see how it pans out,” he said on PM Express, a current affairs programme on the Joy News channel on Multi TV.
He said Mr Osafo-Maafo’s justification for government’s decision to discontinue a case against a notorious Chinese illegal miner, Aisha Huang, despite being a clear gaffe, is not serious enough to force him out office.
“It is not a demeanour which is that serious concerning his job; concerning something that he has done against the state… in such a way that if he is not resigning we must invoke these [impeachment] sections in our Constitution,” Dr Antwi-Danso added.
Gaffe
While responding to a question on why Ghana decided to deport Aisha Huang, otherwise known as ‘Galamsey Queen,’ instead of prosecuting her, the Senior Minister alluded to a contract between Ghana and China.
“Today, the main company that is helping develop the infrastructure system in Ghana is Sinohydro, it is a Chinese Company. It is the one that is going to help process our bauxite and provide about $2 billion to us,” he said.
He added that “…when there are these kinds of arrangements, there are other things behind the scenes. Putting that lady [Aisha] in jail in Ghana is not going to solve your economic problems.”
The Senior Minister has since been dragged to the slaughterhouse on media platforms, especially by members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The Minority has since filed a motion for censure against the Senior Minister.
Unnecessary
Speaking on PM Express, Dr Antwi-Danso said although the criticisms against the Senior Minister are justified a motion for censure may be unnecessary.
“Personally, if you asked me, I wouldn’t say it is very necessary. But politics is politics and we are all students of politics. So I am intrigued and I want to see how it pans out,” he said.
He said he understands Mr Osafo-Maafo’s explanation to be consistent with how nations deal with each other – only that the Senior Minister’s delivery was poor.
“From the point of view of International Relations, I think that is why Aisha Huang was let loose: that it would be better…if you give something small out and get something big, which we do in International Relations all the time,” he said.
“It’s been done several times in International Relations. Has America not kind of reneged on its position as the vanguard of democracy by not being harsh on Saudi Arabia even though [Jamal] Khashoggi was killed like a rat? So these things are done. In International Relations, yes, some bigger things can be sacrificed,” he added.
In any case, he said, the Senior Minister did not discontinue the case against the notorious illegal miner, “it was the same Constitution.”
However, Tamale Central Member of Parliament, Inusah Fuseini, who was also on PM Express disagreed with the International Relations expert.
“Osafo-Maafo broke the nuance of the Constitution,” with the way he justified government’s decision to discontinue the case against Aisha Huang, he said.