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Peacefmonline.com can confirm that the presence of armed military personnel on the precincts of Parliament was at the instigation of the Speaker, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin.
There was a heavy presence of the Military and Police at the arena and vantage points of the Parliament House on Tuesday, October 22.
Now, it is clear the Speaker of Parliament requested security assistance from the Ghana Armed Forces to ensure the smooth conduct of parliamentary business, amidst escalating tensions following his (Speaker’s) declaration of four parliamentary seats vacant on October 17.
The seats in question belong to MPs from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Though the request for upgrade in security underscores concerns over potential disruptions to parliamentary proceedings, it remains unclear the reason for military assistance, since hitherto; the Police Service was clothed with the powers for the provision of security around the House.
Peacefmonline.com investigations, however, reveal Speaker Bagbin asked the Ghana Armed Forces to be in the chamber on the first sitting day of the week, typically Tuesdays.
A letter addressed to the Chief of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces at the General Headquarters, and titled “Request For Canine And Bomb Sweeps of the Chamber,” and signed by Camillo Pwamang, Deputy Clerk to Parliament, has been sighted by yours truly.
“The request is necessitated by the pronouncements of the Rt. Hon. Speaker during proceedings of Thursday, 17th October, 2024 in response to a statement by the Hon. Minority Leader calling on the Speaker to declare the seats of four Members of Parliament vacant pursuant to articles 97 (1)(g) and (h) of the Constitution and the public commentaries arising therefrom.
As indicated by the Rt. Hon. Speaker in his Notice on the Commencement of the fifth meeting of the fourth session, Parliament is currently sitting at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC). The Rt Hon Speaker would therefore be grateful if the Ghana Armed Forces would conduct canine and bomb sweeps of the Chamber on the first sitting day of the week,” portions of the statement read.
Meanwhile, the much-anticipated showdown in Parliament turned out to be a peaceful walkout by the NPP side of the caucus and adjournment of sitting sine die by the Speaker.
Police Capable, We Don’t Need Military
Earlier, the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Kwame Governs Agbodza had expressed his disagreement with the military being assembled in parliament ahead of the sitting in the Chamber on Tuesday.
He believed the police had the capacity to protect Parliament, thus the military’s intervention was unnecessary.
“If you even need the military to enter the chamber and check something, or if you need a security agency to enter the chamber and check something, I am saying that the police administration is capable of doing that” he stated.
Pretending Democrats
Hon. Agbodza, who is the NDC MP for Adaklu constituency in the Volta Region, accused President Akufo-Addo and his Vice Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, of abusing their authority and acting under the guise of being democrats and yet unleashing the military
“Well, first of all, it turns out that all the hype of President Akufo-Addo and Bawumia as a democrat, it turns out they were just pretending. Because if they actually meant well, they would have been using police to deal with things like this, in any case, this morning, what was the chaos in Parliament that required the military? And it’s also a confirmation of the abuse of power that they are already in government. So, they can do anything they like,” he stated in an interview with StarrFm.
Source: Rebeca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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