Laying of Special Prosecutors Bill Procedural – Hon. Ben Abdallah

Chairman of the legal and constitutional affairs of parliament and MP for Offinso South, Hon. Ben Abdallah has said that it is rather unprocedural for the special Prosecutors bill to be viewed first by a committee before appearing in parliament.

The minority in parliament claims the laying of the bill did not follow standard procedure because it should have appeared before a committee who would in turn present it to parliament after deliberation.

But Hon. Abdallah in a rebutal explained that no bill goes to any committee in parliament without the knowledge of the speaker because he does the referrals to the committees.

”It is wrong in law and in procedure for a bill to be laid before any committee without the assent of the speaker of parliament.. committees only get the jurisdiction and capacity to deal with bills only after they are laid before parliament, so that assertion is wrong”.

Hon. Abdallah called for brainstorming to build consensus on how to come up with a bill that could stand the test of time since it is designed for Ghanaians and not a political party.

He told an Accra based radio station that, the bill has been laid before parliament and transferred to the legal and constitutional committee of parliament for further considerations.

The bill, as proposed in the draft “the office of the special prosecutor will have the mandate to investigate and prosecute cases of alleged corruption under the Public Procurement Act 203 Act 63 and other corruption related offences implicating public officers, political office holders and their accomplices in the public sector as well as trace and recover the proceeds of corruption.”

Source: otecfmghana.com