Speaker to meet leadership of Parliament over chaotic inauguration
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, is scheduled to meet the leadership of the House later today.
According to Citi News sources, the main agenda for the meeting is the chaotic disruption of proceedings during the election of the Speaker and a roadmap to streamline the conduct of Parliamentarians going in the 8th Parliament.
Most of the chaos in Parliament stemmed from a stand-off between the National Democratic Congress MPs and the New Patriotic Party MPs over the voting processes for the election of a new Speaker.
The NDC insisted on a secret ballot per law in the belief that there were some NPP MPs planning to vote for its candidate.
For hours, scuffles broke out, led by the NDC Caucus’ Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who tried to make sure his opposing Whip was not cross-checking the ballots of NPP MPs.
At a point when the NDC MPs were unhappy with the process, they ransacked the voting areas and snatched the ballot box.
Armed military and police personnel then stormed Ghana’s Parliament to confront the NDC MPs.
When tensions calmed, Mr. Bagbin was eventually elected Speaker.
Since then, the incident has been widely condemned whilst there have been calls for a probe of the incidents that marred the inauguration of the 8th Parliament.
Former President John Mahama, for example, called for an investigation into the various incidents “and exact appropriate sanctions.”
The African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs also called for sanctions for whoever ordered the military invasion of Parliament.
The National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) said Parliament needed to apologize to the nation for the incident.
It described the scenes in the chamber as “detestable and disgraceful.”
The Parliamentary Service has expressed regret over the incident but has not indicated if there will be a probe.
