News:
January 5, 2021
The Minority Caucus in the seventh Parliament has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the security personnel’s on the premises of the Legislature and condemned the Gestapo-style security at the behest of the Akufo-Addo administration.
According to a statement issued by the Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu they condemned the obvious creeping despotism and blatant misuse of the national security apparatus to advance narrow parochial partisan interest.
And to uphold the universal tenets of good parliamentary democracy that the Standing Orders in Order 30, the following acts or conduct shall constitute a breach of privilege or contempt of Parliament.
“I causing or effecting the arrest of a Member or officer of Parliament during the proceedings of Parliament or in the course of his duties, molestation of Members or officers in connection with the performance of their duties in or out of Parliament. Attempted intimidation by threats of Members in the conduct of their duties”.
In addition, they hold President Akufo-Addo as Commander-in-chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and Chair of the National Security Council directly responsible for this unwarranted and reckless deployment and shall hold him liable for any breach or obstruction in the discharge of our lawful functions.
The NDC caucus in Parliament demands the immediate withdrawal of this detachment of soldiers, police personnel and purported national security operatives, the statement said.
“We shall continue to resist the mindless assault on the pillars of our constitutional democracy. Ghana is not a dictatorship. Those who seek to erode our democratic gains and usher us into a tyrannical dispensation would be fought and defeated”.
The NDC Parliamentary Caucus refuses to sit idle and allow the House of the People’s Representatives to be taken hostage in scenes reminiscent of the recent state-sponsored thuggery witnessed at EC Collation Centres where similar invasions led to needles loss of lives and injuries.
“We are not a group to be intimidated by guns and might when we know we are on the side of the people, on the side of right, on the side of good conscience, on the side of justice and on the side of our national anthem which admonishes us to resist oppressor’s rule”
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com