Koku Anyidoho Dragged

The refusal of Koku Anyidoho to humbly apologise to the Minority in Parliament after insulting the leaders of the group, has landed him in hot-waters, as he has been cited for contempt and dragged to the Privileges Committee of the House. Anyidoho, President John Evans Atta Mills� Head of Communications, recently bad-mouthed the Minority Members of Parliament, particularly Fredrick Opare-Ansah and Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Chief Whip and Leader respectively, describing them as �an irresponsible lot and a group of bellicose, whimsical and capricious people�. The Privileges Committee of Parliament has the power of a High Court. President Mills� right-hand man used the abusive language on Citi Fm in response to suggestions by the Minority Chief Whip, Opare-Ansah, that impeachment proceedings could be initiated against the President in line with Article 69 (1) of the 1992 Constitution if it is established that the Chief Executive of the land had indeed only rejected two �brown envelopes� meant to corrupt him as claimed by Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist and management consultant, but failed to report the people who attempted to bribe him to the Police for prosecution. Subsequent diplomatic manoeuvres by Anyidoho�s bosses at the Presidency to get him to eat the humble pie, retract the insults and duly apologise to the Honourable Members of the House proved futile as he had remained adamant. The situation left the Minority group with no option but to take drastic measures. Deputy Minority Leader, Ambrose Derry, therefore cited Anyidoho for contempt of Parliament on the floor of the House yesterday. Petitioning the House on the matter, Hon. Ambrose Derry, who is also the MP for Lawra/Nandom in the Upper West region, indicated that the outbursts by Anyidoho were offensive not only to the dignity and integrity of Members of the Minority, but to the whole House, and appealed that the case be referred to the Privileges Committee of Parliament. Consequently, the Speaker of Parliament, Mrs. Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, referred the matter to the Committee for investigations and report and in accordance with the rules of the House. Anyidoho is therefore expected to appear before the Committee to answer queries. It would be recalled that before travelling with President Mills to Copenhagen, Denmark, for the Summit on Climate Change, Anyidoho aggressively threw invectives at the Minority Chief Whip on Citi Fm saying, �Let Opare-Ansah understand, and I will call him honourable because the people of Suhum voted for him, so I will respect the people of Suhum. I may not respect Opare-Ansah and his views but I will respect the electorate who voted for him to become MP so I would call him honourable. �And tell him that I speak categorically that irresponsible people like him (Hon. Opare-Ansah) will not lead the President down an irresponsible path�. �The fact that people like Opare-Ansah have gone and sat down and are making these irresponsible statements does not mean that President Mills, having gotten the mandate of 23 to 24 million Ghanaians to build a better Ghana, should come and respond to this level of irresponsibility. �And am saying that with people like Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu and Opare-Ansah in parliament, we have a question to answer and President Mills will hear but will not pay attention to the bellicose, whimsical and capricious irresponsibility of Opare-Ansah and his lot. �And we are telling Opare-Ansah and co that they better get ready; this their irresponsibility, their bellicosity is nonsense and I use the word nonsense again,� he added.