The Majority Leader and Leader of Government Business in Ghana’s Parliament, Osei-Kyei Mensah Bonsu, says he does not see the need for Members of the Parliamentary Press Corps to demand an apology from him and the institution of Parliament.
The Majority Leader criticised the Parliamentary Press on the Floor of Parliament on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 for exercising its editorial discretion to give coverage to a press briefing by a Member of Parliament outside the Chamber which led to Speaker Mike Oquaye’s threat to withdraw the accreditation of the media should the action be repeated.
Speaking at a media engagement with the Leadership of Parliament iron out the issues, the Majority Leader received with shock demands by some Members of the Parliamentary Press Corps on him to apologize for berating them in public without any justified cause.
According to him, he owes the press no apology for stating the obvious by drawing the Speaker’s attention to what he considers to be the rules of engagement for the media in the coverage of Parliament.
“Really, I am flabbergasted by this attitude because I have taken pain to explain to you what really transpired; and for you to tell me to apologize to you for telling you the rules of the game that we all subscribe to, my own thinking is that you are going a bit out of bounds,… then you are saying that with what we have done we owe you an apology, Respectfully I don’t. I don’t owe you an apology,” he said.
Source: Clement Akoloh || africanewsradio.com