Parliament: Jan. 7 ‘mess’ will continue to breed scuffles - Think Tank

The Executive Director for Parliamentary Network Africa, Samuel Obeng, says the failure of the leadership of Parliament to punish offenders who disrupted proceedings during voting to determine who will become the Speaker of the Parliament on 7th January 2021 is the cause of the current clash.

Ghanaian soldiers intervened overnight to quell the clash between opposing parties in parliament ahead of the body’s swearing-in.

Chaotic scenes erupted after a governing party deputy tried to seize the ballot box during the vote for speaker of parliament.

The ensuing clash lasted several hours until the army stepped in, with national television broadcasting the drama live.

Footage from the overnight confrontation in parliament showed some of the legislators shouting and brawling with rivals.

A similar incident occurred yesterday, December 20th, 2021, where Members of Parliament engaged in another physical confrontation during a debate on the controversial e- Levy.

The incident occurred when the MPs were about to cast their vote on the matter.

Speaking to the host of Atinka FM’s AM Drive, The Executive Director for Parliamentary Network Africa, Samuel Obeng, says the continuous conduct of members of parliament is a result of the failure of the leadership of Parliament to punish persons found culpable in the January 7 riot in Parliament.

He likened the Parliament House to the normal Ghanaian home, where notorious kids when left unpunished, continue to be notorious.

According to Samuel Obeng, when people go unpunished after a crime, it emboldens others to also commit the same crime.

“We all know what happened in Parliament on January 7th, 2021. The Parliamentary leaders and Service boards, Clerks among others have assumed that we have all forgotten and have allowed the offenders to go unpunished. The MPs continue to act this way because the right punitive measures were not taken on the 7th January issue. It will continue like that until the leadership stops the lip service and walk the talk,” The Executive Director for Parliamentary Network Africa, Samuel Obeng told Kaakyire Ofori Ayim.