The Parliamentary Service has described as ‘regrettable’ incidents that occurred in the build-up to the inauguration of the 8th Parliament on Thursday, January 7, 2021.
The process was characterised by complete pandemonium as some Members of Parliament put up unparliamentarily behaviour which resulted in near fisticuffs.
Perhaps the most noticeable unparliamentary behaviour being Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, MP for Tema West who in the full glare of his colleagues and the media snatched ballot sheets and bolted during the election of a new Speaker of the House.
The commotion began when the NDC MPs occupied the right side of the chamber which is reserved for the majority side. This led to a commotion between both the NDC and NPP MPs who were both claiming to have majority seat in parliament.
After the dust had settled, a fresh commotion arose when the NPP lawmakers requested the clerk of Parliament to enforce a court order restraining the Assin North NDC MP-elect James Gyakye Quayson, from partaking in the voting process to elect a speaker because the court had placed an injunction on him and ordered him not to hold himself as MP-elect and partake in the swearing-in exercise.
This generated a long-heated argument between both sides.
The actions of the lawmakers have been widely condemned by majority of Ghanaians.
Reacting to this development, the Parliamentary service in a statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo said: “Parliament wishes to acknowledge the events that characterized the inauguration of the 8th Parliament and wishes to state that while most of the actions during the night were regrettable, Parliament would, however, like to put them behind it and work towards a more focused, unified membership aimed at promoting the best Parliamentary practices and good governance”.
Below is the full statement:
