Casely-Hayford faces contempt of parliament

A member of pressure group OccupyGhana, Sydney Casely-Hayford, may be hauled before Ghana’s parliament for contempt for alleged derogatory remarks he made against the legislature.

Kumbugu MP Ras Mubarak, who brought the said contemptuous comments to the attention of the House on Thursday July 13, said the comments by Mr Casely-Hayford “are downright offensive, outrightly benighted, and can only be coming from a man who seems discombobulated from the world he inhabits”.

Mr Mubarak told parliament that Mr Hayford said the following about current and past MPs:

(1) “These people are sitting there, spending money like crazy, making stupid decisions and passing stupid laws...”

(2) “All they think of is ‘let's pass this thing quickly, let's go to Senchi Royal, let's go and sit there and chill and come back…’"

(3) “They don't read the papers that they are given, they don't think through what the challenges are...”

(4) “The first thing I will do if I had the opportunity is to break down parliament…”

The MP said “as much as we must encourage free speech we mustn't allow people to make sweeping comments, impugn reputations, and affront the dignity of parliament”.

For him, “what Sydney has done is to indict all of us here in the current parliament and those before us”.

“He is indicting the current Speaker, current President, former President, and the many others whose time in parliament was spent pushing for progressive legislation. He's inciting hatred and vandalism when he talks about breaking down parliament,” he added.