An open letter to the minority caucus in Ghana's Parliament

Dear Minority Caucus,

Ghana's parliament is a house for honourable men/Women and I must say without fear of contradiction that, your conduct of late is reducing the dignity accorded to your respective offices. It is unparliamentary to use unpalatable words on an honourable member on the floor of the house. It is in respect to this reason that I am drawing your attention to the unfortunate description of Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan as a "bloody widow".

The offensive description of the woman is against the custom and Traditions of our society. You knew that today was going to be the swearing in of Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan as a new Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency following the demise of her late husband, Hon. Kyeremateng Agyarko but you chose to stage a walk out of the house with placards without any sensible reason.

On your placards, you described her as a "bloody widow" just because she won an election your candidate decided to pull out though,he was still on the ballot when the election was still ongoing. I carefully monitored proceedings today via my facebook page.

The minority chief whip who was holding brief for Hon. Haruna Iddrisu indicated clearly to the speaker that, they were not going to be part of the swearing in of the woman because the process that got her legitimately elected was marred with brutalities on some group of people.

Your placards sounded as if being a widow is a crime to humanity. May your wives never taste this irresponsible treatment meted out to Maa Lydia. What crime at all has she committed to deserve this senseless description?. When people were subjected to severe torture during the Talensi By-election, the opposition then and now in government never pulled out of the election. Again after the election, the minority in parliament never boycotted the swearing in of B.T Baba.

The above tells me that, under your tenure as a government in power, you had a responsible minority in opposition. The minority we have today is always swimming in pettiness at any given point in time. Every single by-election that was organised under Mahama and Mills was marred with violence yet, the minority then never boycotted any of the swearing in of those who were legitimately elected through a process that got a lot of people injured.

The framers of the 1992 constitution thought it wise to give each and every constituency a representative who would champion the welfare and aspirations of his/her constituent and that is the reason why we the good people of Ghana are being represented in parliament through our respective MP's. It is the taxpayer's money the government of Ghana uses to pay your allowance and salaries.

It is however sad to realise that, the very principle which underpins the reason why you are representing us in parliament has been substituted for recklessness. I have suffered the resistance to use harsh words to describe your conduct today but because "you people" have decided to show immaturity, I would Proceed in that regard.

Your "senselessness" is seriously inimical and injurious to the good people Of Ghana which brings the dignity accorded to parliament and its image into disrepute, contempt, mockery and public ridicule so to speak. The entire minority is in contempt of parliament.

#We are sick and tired of a clueless and incompetent minority#

Dawda Eric (Equity)

Constitutional Defence Advocate