Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has described the unnecessary shouting, whistling and brandishing of red cards by the Minority in Parliament during President Mills’ Fourth State of the Nation Address on Thursday as indecorous and shameful.
He believes it was a pre-conceived plan by the NPP Members of Parliament to show disrespect to the president.
To him, the kind of ‘gargantuan heckling’ meted out to President Mills by the wearing of black and red attire and the unnecessarily jeering at him during the address was most inappropriate.
The Minority flashed red cards amidst chants of “a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y” as President Mills concluded his last State of the Nation address for his term of office before the elections in December.
President Mills, who was very calm despite the attitude of the Minority, in a lighthearted manner, remarked at the end of the address, “even though I expected to be heckled, I did not expect the heckling to be so gargantuan.”
But speaking as a panelist on Peace FM’s premium morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Kwesi Pratt pointed out that with the country’s democracy having mushroomed to a certain level its tenets requires a certain level of decency and not what was showcased in the House on Thursday.
“…people want to listen with rapt attention...that kind of attitude will not help us...even though this is not the first time something like this has occurred, it doesn't justify it. We’ve reached the stage where Ghanaians demand a certain level of decency in their parliament...unnecessary interruptions, whistling and singing Woyome songs...Immediately the President finished talking, they (Minority) all flashed their red cards at him. It means before they came into the House, everyone had a red card in their pocket; so no matter what the president had meant to say whether good, red card; whether bad, red card. This is bad, its shameful and most inappropriate...and needs to be addressed…,” he said.
