The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusade Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako has lashed out at the Parliamentary Service Board for issuing a report on the popular Sakyi-Hughes "looting" saga without capturing the response of the former speaker. Although the report of the ad hoc committee constituted by the board had been duly signed by the chairman Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, it missed out on a response from Mr Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi Hughes. The committee is reported to have sent a letter dated May 5 to Mr Sekyi Hughes, six days after submitting its interim report dated April 29, 2009 to the board for consideration. Speaking on Joy FM's news analysis programme, Newsfile, Mr Baako said the board has been unfair to the former speaker on that score. "The former speaker has been unfairly treated. He has been singled out, brought to the fore; indeed his conduct has been criminalised," Mr Baako noted. Mr Sekyi Hughes, who was speaker of the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic, is alleged to have taken away state items worth over GH¢450,000 from his official residence. But the Crusading Guide boss said the non-existence of a clear-cut policy on the disposal of furnishings for public officials must be critically considered in deliberations over the matter. "The sub-committee which was to ascertain from the inventory which of the items could be disposed of, returned or depreciated and sold to the former speaker, noted that the decision in respect of Mr Sekyi Hughes 'should be considered as a none-off event, pending in place a well-defined policy'," the Daily Graphic reported on Thursday. Although he would not mention names, Mr Baako said he had evidence to the effect that several other former public officials had taken away state-provided soft furnishings when their terms had ended. The Sekyi Hughes "looting" saga has touched off an uproar in the media and in many political circles with the ruling party calling for the prosecution of the former speaker. General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has already in a press statement called on the Mills-led government to order the arrest of the Sakyi Hughes. Experts have however said the former speaker’s issue be treated lightly as Parliament is yet to establish a hard and fast rule on how furnishings provided by the state for the Speaker must be disposed off. Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline.com