NDC calls for enquiry into military invasion of Parliament

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) says the circumvention of due process which was openly displayed during the election of a Speaker of Parliament Thursday dawn is a replica of what happened during the December 7, 2020, general elections.

The party has consequently called for a full Parliamentary enquiry to be instituted by the Speaker of Parliament into the “unfortunate incidents of January 7th, 2021” in the chamber of Parliament.

The General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia who said this at a press conference in Accra Friday afternoon [Jan 8, 2021] made particular reference to the “invasion of the Chamber of Parliament by gun-wielding military men, with ‘azugu’ masks, and the snatching of ballot papers by now ‘dishonourable’ Carlos Ahenkorah, and punish all those who are found culpable in accordance with the laws of the country, including the conduct of the Clerk of Parliament on that occasion and to forestall any such occurrence in the future.”

According to Mr Asiedu Nketia, “how the Marshall of Parliament allowed the security of Parliament to be breached by people who are described in Parliamentary parlance as foreigners on the floor of Parliament,” should also be investigated.

“If you are not a member [of parliament] and you enter there [chamber floor], you are a foreigner. So how the Marshall who is in charge of the security of Parliament allowed his domain to be invaded in such a matter must be a matter of enquiry and those who deserve to be punished must be punished accordingly,” Mr Asiedu Nketia said.

“Repeated snapshots”

“We will like to urge our newly elected Speaker and our MPs to always remember the hard fought victory of that night and ensure they put the national interest first at all times,” he added.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the last spectacle we witnessed in Parliament were just a repeated snapshots of what took place across the length and breath of the country during the general elections held on December 7th, 2020. The use of armed soldiers at various polling stations and constituency collation centres, snatching of ballot boxes, intimidation, harassment and in some cases, killing of innocent unarmed civilians in cold blood was what characterised the elections of 7th December, 2020. The circumvention of due process as we have witnessed in the election of a Speaker of Parliament played out in the form of plain thievery and systematic rigging culminating in the floored and fraudulent declaration which the NDC is challenging in the Supreme Court.”