The Minority in Parliament has served notice that it will drag the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mad. Jean Mensa to Privileges Committee of Parliament if she fails to appear before the House this week.
Parliament upon the request of the Minority invited the EC Boss to the House to give clarifications on the new Constitutional Instrument (CI) seeking to make the Ghana Card as the sole identification document for registering as a voter.
Although on the said date, some officials of the EC were present in the House to address the issues, the minority failed to recognized these officials insisting that the Chairperson should be the person to address the house.
According to the NDC MPs, the absence of the EC boss is a clear indication that she does not have respect for the House hence her refusal to appear before the assembly to answer queries on the CI.
Following the accusations of the Minority, the EC through a statement has debunked the assertion. The statement explained that Mad. Jean Mensa had been invited for an election observer mission in Nigeria hence out of the jurisdiction and therefore her two deputies had to represent her in Parliament.
“For the attention of the General Public, the EC received a letter from Parliament on Wednesday 22nd February 2023 inviting the Commission to brief the leadership of the House on the draft Cl on the registration of voters on Thursday 23rd February 2024,” parts of the statement read.
However reacting to the news that the EC Chairperson is not within the jurisdiction and may not be able to appear before the House, a ranking member on the Interior and Defense Committee of Parliament Mr James Agalga, indicated that the action of Jean Mensa is contemptuous.
“We are saying that Jean Mensa has been very consistent in not turning up or responding to invitations from the House. She is the person who bears ultimate responsibility and so we require her personal attendance before the House so that whatever assurances are given will come from her own mouth,” he said.
Speaking on Accra-based Joy News, James Agalga noted that “you cannot treat Parliament like that. Parliament represents, if you like, the soul of our democratic experiment, the people’s representatives.
“I have indicated to you that her continuous absence is contemptuous. First of all, the assurance has been given that she would appear. If she doesn’t, seriously speaking, we will escalate our actions to include the referral of Jean Mensa to the Privileges Committee to be dealt with for contempt of Parliament,” he said.
