Forgive Agyapong, Muntaka for near-brawl altercation – Parliament

Lawmakers are not infallible since they are humans like any ordinary person, so, Ghanaians should forgive Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak and Assin Central MP Kennedy Agyapong, for their near-brawl altercation in parliament on Wednesday, 30 January 2019, Parliament’s Acting Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo has pleaded.

According to Class News' parliamentary correspondent Ekow Annan, the two lawmakers hurled invectives at each other on the floor of the house just before official proceedings started.

They had to be physically restrained by colleague MPs from attacking and assaulting each other as Mr Agyapong threatened to deal with Mr Mubarak, who, in turn, dared the Assin Central MP to try if he could.

The brawl happened a day after Mr Agyapong was dragged to the Privileges Committee of parliament by Mr Mubarak for allegedly inciting the public against late investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale.

Commenting on the development, Ms Kate Addo was of the view that: “It will be fair to treat it as something that was said in the heat of the moment and for which they should not be held actionable”.

She continued: “I’m hopeful that this is not going to go in that direction [where it will be referred for disciplinary action]. One, because of the spontaneity with which it happened, you could tell that though it was not in the best of tastes, there was no real malice and people were just being people. As humans as we are, I’m sure we will have to ask Ghanaians to forgive them and look at the bigger picture”.

“The words that they used could have been in better taste but these were words that were uttered in anger and like I said, do you want to hold people for what they say when they are upset? Then we all will at one point or the other be held actionable for such things,” she stressed.