Ghanaians condemn military invasion of messy parliament

Ghanaians have condemned the sudden invasion of the chamber of Parliament by heavily armed security personnel when MPs-elect lost their cool ahead of voting for a new Speaker for the eighth Parliament.

It was a free-for-all fight in Ghana’s lawmaking chamber as MPs-elect of both the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) disagreed on the clerk’s decision not to allow the injuncted NDC MP-elect for Assin North, James Gyekye Quayson, to be part of the voting process.

This resulted in an open brawl in the chamber, making it tough for the clerk, Cyril Nsiah, who was then presiding to control the lawmakers.

The police also had it tough along with Parliamentary marshals controlling the melee which resulted in ballot box snatching and booting of voting booth in the House.

After four hours of lawlessness in the House, fully armed soldiers stormed the chamber to keep calm.

This could not help, but incensed the minority MPs-elect who rather hooted at the soldiers and began pushing the military men to leave the chamber amidst chanting of patriotic songs. After consultation among the leadership of the House, calm was finally restored to pave way for the voting to continue also after the clerk had told the Assin North MP-elect he may participate in the voting exercise at his own peril.

Here are some views from Ghanaians on social media: