The chamber of Parliament was yesterday turned into a football pitch as the minority caucus issued multiple red cards to President Atta Mills to show him the exit from power after the next general elections.
Obviously telling President Mills that his time was up, the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) wearing black and red, to signify that they were in a state of mourning, showed the president red cards for what they described as his abysmal performance in controlling the affairs of the country over the past three years, for which Ghanaians should show him the exit during the December polls.
“We are in red and black attire in a state of mourning because of the gargantuan money the nation has lost to Woyome for no work done, which the president has even failed to talk about,” Stephen Baladoo Manu, MP for Ahafo Ano South, explained.
President Mills was greeted with the latest hit song in town “Woyome, Woyome; Woyome, Woyome; Gargantuan ooh, Woyome” as he was ushered into the House’s chamber by the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo and the leadership of Parliament.
It was a spectacle to watch as the Minority group in Parliament intermittently heckled President Mills with the song, apparently to remind him of the urgent need to retrieve the over GH¢51million of the taxpayer’s money his administration had doled out to businessman and ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, as a judgment package.
As the Minority side sang the song, the Majority NDC responded with the shout of ‘cocaine, cocaine’, in an apparent reference to a drug phenomenon, which the ruling party had consistently tagged NPP with.
After his delivery, all the Minority members stood up flashing red cards and chanting ‘a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y, a-w-a-y’ to Mills.
President Mills, in response, said “even though I expected to be heckled, I did not expect the heckling to be so gargantuan,” a statement which drew thunderous laughter from both sides of the House. In attendance was NDC founder, ex-president Jerry John Rawlings.
The former president, who had indicated he had problems with President Mills over the way the country was being governed, was wearing a long face or seen intermittently having a tête-à-tête with his wife, Nana Konadu-Agyemang, throughout the address.
Although he did not mention names, President Mills said he was happy that leaders of some political parties had now heeded his persistent calls for peace.
“I have always preached peace and I am happy the leaderships of political parties are responding to the clarion call I have sounded over the years. I am also glad that those who did not see the need to pray for peace are now praying for peace.
“I am also glad that those who did not see the need to pray for peace are now praying for peace.
“We have to hold in check those who want to hold this country to ransom. If we are not circumspect, the peace of the country will be jeopardized.”
The president assured the nation that nothing bad would happen to the Ashanti Region, the stronghold of the opposition, as being speculated.
President Mills had told United States diplomats that he was afraid of the great Ashanti project without explaining what he meant by that statement.
