A Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asah- Asante has called on Ghanaians to punish Members of Parliament who got involved in fisticuffs as a way of resolving disagreements in the House. According to him, such MPs must be punished for their misconduct hence the call for them to be booted out.
Since the inauguration of Ghana’s 8th parliament which has a composition of 137 MPs each for the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and one Independent MP who has decided to conduct business with the NPP side thereby, giving them a slim majority, the house has witnessed chaotic and unparliamentary conduct by MPs.
It all started with the election of a speaker which became so heated to the point that some MPs resorted to snatching the ballot box which depicted happenings in Ghanaian elections. The approval of the 2022 budget, though did not witness another exchange of blows, suffered greatly with the minority group and majority group taking turns to reject and approve.
For the first time in Ghana since the 4th republic, a governing party walked out of Parliament, leaving its own budget in the hands of the opposition MPs to decide. Despite the back and forth over the budget and a very controversial approval process, an important part of the budget which will see to the introduction of the E-levy is yet to see the light of day.
A decision to determine whether the E-levy bill should be accepted under a certificate of urgency led to the MPs exchanging blows following an attempt by the 1st Deputy Speaker who was presiding to take part in the voting.
Hearing on the bill was later in December 2021, suspended and is set to be re-submitted when parliament resumes.
But speaking Thursday on the State of Our Nation on Dreamz FM, Dr. Asah -Asante posited that MPs, who engaged in the fisticuffs on the floor of the House, should be booted out at the polls.
He noted that Ghanaians voted for a hung parliament because they became tired of the seeming lack of consultation and engagement in the roll-out of government policies due to the huge majority parties in government often have in the House.
“The numbers there is a reflection of the Ghanaian society. Ghanaians wanted parliament to change from where they almost, always agree to issues from government and that is why they voted for the number of MPs there. But what is happening there in terms of the disagreements which sometimes leads to fisticuffs is not the workings of the Ghanaian people. It is the behavior of people in parliament but these are not things we want to countenance this time around and that the people must look for those who engage in this and punish them through election.
You see, when you advise them and they don’t listen, the only mandate we have as a people is that we fish out those people who cause trouble in parliament and throw them out during election. That is how you fight in a democracy to win the support of those you have put in the helm of affairs to run the affairs of the country on your behalf,” he said.
He also urged government to soften its posturing on the E-levy.
“Government must soften its stance on a number of things. For instance, the E-levy. I am not happy with government’s posture. For me, it is worrying. I am not against taxation but the magnitude of the taxation. The quantum must come down but I am not for a no no”. He stressed.
