Ursula Owusu to lead charge for punishment of MPs involved in E-levy brawl

Chaos in Parliament over E-levy bill

Kweku Baako calls for punishment for fighting MPs

Asiedu Nketia blames Majority Leader for chaos in

Read full articletarget='_blank' href='/GhanaHomePage/people/person.php?ID=3205'>Parliament

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, believes some members of the minority caucus must be held accountable for the chaos that was witnessed in the house on January 20, 2021.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful says the issue was caused by the MPs and Ghanaians must blame them not the entire house.

Speaking on Peace FM, the Minister for Communications and Digitization said that she will initiate processes for the punishment of the MPs when the house resumes sitting.

“I’m going to call for all those responsible for this act to be dealt with the law or else we will be fuelling impunity in the House of Parliament . . . If we call ourselves honourable Members of Parliament, we should live up to that name and act in an honorable manner.”

She noted that conduct of the MPs fell short of their ‘honourable’ title and that steps needed to be taken to avert future occurrence.

She disclosed that members of the minority side believe that violence is the answer to any situation and will resort to it at any point.

"Frankly, this is my third time in Parliament and I haven't seen anything like this before. It's very shameful! Those doing that are the NDC people who think they should use violence in everything they do. We should call them out and let the whole world know that it's not everybody who is like that. What happened was ignited by them," she added.

Meanwhile the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has apologised to Ghanaians over the issue.

He assured that leadership will take steps to ensure that blows are traded in the house no more.

“As a leader of the house, I feel ashamed. I feel ashamed to be a leader of this house. Ultimately, I bear the responsibility. If a team loses a game, the coach takes the blame despite not being a member of the team. That is why I’m taking the blame despite not being the one who orchestrated the violence. We apologise to Ghanaians for our disgraceful conduct.

“We have disgraced the whole country. Until recently, Ghana’s Parliament used to be referenced as the ideal Parliament. We started with shame but some thought this it one-time event only for it to happen again. This is so embarrassing. It’s a very sad situation,” he said.

What happened in Parliament

On Monday night, the First Deputy Speaker decided to take leave of the Speaker’s chair for the Second Deputy Speaker to take charge allegedly to enable him to participate in voting, which occasioned disagreement from the Minority, and a subsequent tussle over the Speaker’s sitting area ensued.

Dozens of the opposition parliamentarians exchange fisticuffs with their colleagues on the Majority side while some officials of parliament tried to protect the Speaker’s seat and the mace of parliament from being attacked.

However, calm returned moments after, before the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, adjourned the sitting.

Meanwhile, the House, without the Speaker, Alban Bagbin has adjourned sitting to take a break for Christmas and will resume sitting on January 18, 2022.