Vacant seats dispute exposes immaturity in Parliament – Ansa Asare
Former Director of the Ghana School of Law, Kwaku Ansa Asare, has blamed the recent tensions in Parliament on the “immaturity and inexperience” of the House’s leadership.
In an interview on Sunday, November 10, 2024, the seasoned legal practitioner criticized the handling of the situation, citing a “lack of common sense” in resolving the dispute.
He argued that better leadership could have prevented the escalating tension within Parliament.
According to him, maturity, wisdom, and tact should be applied in resolving issues, devoid of intemperate language and “not to attack the Speaker and call him all sorts of names”.
“Once you have a hung Parliament, some of these things do occur and when they do occur, the approach in resolving the issue is what matters not the language like the unfortunate language of Afenyo-Markin,” he criticised the MP for Affutu.
On Thursday, November 7, when Parliament reconvened after an earlier adjournment on October 22, the NPP Caucus was notably absent from the Chamber, prompting Speaker Alban Bagbin to adjourn proceedings again.
Addressing the House, Mr Bagbin said he was suspending sitting due to a lack of business for lawmakers to address, following the Business Committee’s failure to convene and set an agenda.
Reacting to the Speaker’s decision, NPP Caucus leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin accused Mr Bagbin of favouring the NDC, alleging that he was “supervising chaos and confusion” in Parliament.
The former director described Mr Afenyo-Markin’s conduct as “unruly” and called on him to issue a public apology, stating that his remarks had left a “scar on the conscience of the nation.”
“Like the unfortunate language of Afenyo-Markin attacking the Speaker. [It] was unparliamentary, very uncultured. This is the first time I have seen live an MP attack the Speaker of Parliament using unparliamentary language, using invectives, assaulting the speaker’s character and playing to the gallery.
“It’s unwarranted and uncalled for. This is not the way a majority leader should address the Speaker,” he said.
Mr Ansa-Asare emphasized the need for maturity and wisdom in addressing such parliamentary disputes, especially in a hung Parliament.
“If there’s a pressing issue in Parliament, it requires the intervention of experienced, wise, and mature individuals, not attacks on the Speaker or derogatory language,” Mr Ansa-Asare said on Hot Issues on TV3.
The House has been indefinitely adjourned twice following a boycott by NPP MPs who refused to attend sittings because NDC MPs occupied the Majority seats in Parliament.
The NPP caucus insists that Speaker Alban Bagbin must enforce the Supreme Court’s order by directing NDC MPs to vacate those seats.
The House will remain in indefinite adjournment until the Supreme Court issues a final ruling on the matter on November 11.