Thursday, 28 March

E-Levy brawl: Marshals department to beef up security – Majority Leader

News
Brawl in Parliament

The Majority Leader of Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has stated that the Marshals Department of the legislature, which is tasked with maintaining law and order in the House, will beef up security within the precincts to ensure the safety of parliament and parliamentarians.

According to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, there have been a series of meetings with the leadership of the Ghana Police Service to assist the Marshals Department to maintain law and order on the floor of Parliament. 

Although the police administration says it does not have the power to enforce law and order in parliament, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu believes it is important to seek assistance from the law enforcement agency to avert future brawls à la Monday night’s free-for-all mayhem that characterised the voting process on the e-levy bill.

The Majority Leader said this in an interview with Iddrisu Awudu, host of the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra100.5 FM on Friday, 24 December 2021.

“There is the need for the security of parliament to be beefed up to help avert some of these despicable events from happening on the floor,” he said.

He noted that what happened on the floor of Parliament on 20 December 2021 could have been averted if the security in the house had been properly taken care of.

The Suame MP further said there were some reports that suggested that two MPs from the Minority Caucus went into the chamber on Monday night with pistols.

He said the leadership is investigating the matter to further ascertain the veracity of the allegation.

According to him, the situation that led to a member of the Minority Caucus slashing the face of the Minister of Youth and Sports, who is also the MP for the Yagaba-Kubori Constituency, Mr Mustapha Ussif, with a sharp object, which is believed to be a razor blade, could have been averted, if there had been tight security.

Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu was of the view that the situation where some MPs fight on the floor was shameful, adding that he does not understand why the NDC MPs are quick to resort to fighting on the floor.

He said the NDC must be told that the floor of Parliament is not an avenue for people to unleash their pugilist tactics.

“The floor of Parliament is not for fisticuffs and the MPs on the NDC side must be made to know that,” he stressed.

 

 

Source: Classfmonline.com/cecil Mensah