Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Majority Chief Whip
The Majority Chief Whip of Parliament, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has admonished his colleague MPs, especially those belonging to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), never to launch any attack on the Speaker’s Chair again.
Such acts, he noted, are akin to the numerous coup d’etats which the West Africa sub-region has witnessed in recent months.
In his opinion, MPs, who are classified among the ‘ruling class,’ must be seen to be championing democracy wherever they find themselves, and not engage in acts that derail the gains Ghana has made in its democratic dispensation.
Contributing to a statement made by the NDC MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to condemn the successive coup d’états in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso and the recent attempted coup in Burkina Faso, Mr. Annoh-Dompreh said attacks on the Speaker’s Chair by the NDC MPs could best be described as coup d’état.
Unjustifiable
“It cannot be justified under any circumstance that Members of Parliament will reduce intellectual arguments into fisticuffs with people targeting the seat of the Speaker. It cannot be that…And if you are continuously engaged in that, you are preparing the grounds for the unfortunate.
“…Growing up as a leader, I have never seen MPs going after the Speaker’s seat…I have never seen that. Both sides need to reflect. The ‘ruling class’ must reflect, and we are part of the ‘ruling class.’ We cannot, on the one hand, condemn coup d’états and on the other hand surreptitiously and physically try to attack the Speaker of Parliament.
“For me, that is a form of a coup d’état. Anybody that engages in fisticuffs in Parliament here is fueling and facilitating a coup d’état, and must be condemned in no uncertain terms,” he noted.
He added: “You cannot be condemning coup d’état; you cannot be condemning people who take advantage of the law; you cannot be condemning people who will not resort to the law courts and yet you come here and engage in fisticuffs, and you expect the good people of this country to praise you.
“This statement is timely, and I want to sound a word of caution that if we don’t reflect positively and show the way in terms of democracy, we are leading this country to danger, and posterity will not forgive this 8th Parliament if this will continue,” he asserted.
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