I Hope Kyei Mensah Turns Over A New Leaf This Year - Ofosu Ampofo

The National Chairman of the opposition NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo says the Majority Leader, Kyei Mensah Bonsu comes across as a leader who does not want to build consensus. The former Fanteakwa North MP says Kyei Mensah Bonsu’s utterances and posture in the legislature have largely contributed to recent rancour

and wrangling in the first year of the 8th Parliament. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo indicated that for both sides of the house to build consensus and achieve maximum gains, Kyei Mensah Bonsu must turn over a new leaf. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu owes us a duty to ensure that he brings his long

experience and expertise in the Parliament onboard to ensure that things go on smoothly. When I heard him attacking the Speaker at a press conference, I asked myself where we are headed. I believe strongly that his actions and inactions are contributing to what we see in Parliament today. I hope that Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu

will resolve to turning a new leaf in this new year and He added that the Minority MPs will also stop at nothing to defend the constitution.

Chaos in Parliament

Ghana’s fourth Republic was faced with what was also essentially a hung Parliament after the 2020 elections. The governing NPP and opposition National Democratic Congress won 137 seats each, with one independent MP. On the morning Ghana’s new Parliament was set to be sworn in, an almost five hour deadlock over voting

processes to elect a new Speaker of the Parliament culminated in a brawl. After the heated debate over the status of an opposition MP-elect who had been barred by a court from taking part in the inauguration of the new Parliament, there was a standoff over the voting process for the Speaker. The NDC MPs insisted on a

secret ballot in the belief that there were some NPPs MPs planning to stray from the party line as Mr. Alban Bagbin and Mike Oquaye vied for the seat. For hours, scuffles broke out, led by the NDC legislators’ Whip, Mr Muntaka Mubarak, who tried to make sure his opposing Whip was not policing the ballot that would eventually

see Mr Alban Bagbin elected. Amid the tensions, armed military and police personnel even stormed Parliament’s chamber, adding to the chaos. The year began in chaos for the Parliament and ended in chaos when another brawl broke out during a late-night session to consider passing the electronic transactions levy (E-levy) under a

certificate of urgency. The chaos started after NDC MPs tried to prevent Deputy Speaker Mr Joseph Osei Owusu from leaving his seat to vote after weeks of debate over whether he still retained his vote as the MP for Bekwai when sitting in for the Speaker of Parliament.