It is harsh to describe Ghana’s Parliament as ‘dishonourable’- Godfred Dame

Deputy Attorney General Godfred Yeboah Dame has expressed that it would be “harsh” to describe parliament as dishonourable following the scuffle that ensued in the house when the Speaker of the 8th Parliament was being elected.

In an interview with Happy FM’s Joseph Nii Ankrah, he shared: “What went on in the early hours of this morning was very dishonourable. But I think that it will be a little bit too harsh on our part to say that we should not call the house an Honourable house. It is still an Honourable house. It is Honourable in the sense that the institution itself is supposed to be dignified. The institution is one of the main pillars of the state”.

He furthered that these actions that occurred should drive our focus on reforming and refining the processes in parliament. “I think that much as we all recognize that the conduct was bad, it is a wakeup call to all of us that we should perhaps reform and refine the procedures of parliament to ensure that such actions do not occur again”, he added.

Meanwhile, Godfred condemned the actions of the house during the election of the Speaker of Parliament as he states that it “was very bad and uncalled for”.

The fight in parliament started when Carlos Ahenkorah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Tema West constituency snatched some paper ballots during an overnight vote to determine the house speaker.

Prior to this, the Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, and Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu Constituency, John Jinapor, were seen rushing to where the voting booth and ballot box were and removing them from their place. This was in protest at how some NPP MPs were breaching the ‘secret ballot’ protocol.

After voting, the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Alban Bagbin, was voted in as speaker.