Mfantseman MP's death: I was attacked and nothing was done – Sam George blames parliament
MP for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George
Outspoken Member of Parliament for the Ningo-Prampram constituency, Samuel Nartey George, has asserted that his colleagues in the house of legislature; particularly the leadership should be held responsible for the death of MP for Mfantseman.
Read full article He blamed the leadership of the house for failing to demand protection for other members of parliament.
Reacting to the killing of yet another legislator, Ekow Quansah Hayford, the outspoken Ningo Prampram MP postulated that the increasing spate of attacks on MPs have been emboldened because they lack protection, unlike leadership in Parliament.
“We think that the Ghanaian people whose voice and aspirations are made known through the Members of Parliament should foot the bill for the protection of the Executive yet those who represent the Ghanaian people should not and cannot be given protection when our work puts us against the might of the State and private interests.
“The cost to the taxpayer when an MP dies is huge; by the state conducting a bye-election and the cost to political parties…I believe that Parliament itself is to blame for this problem from the Speaker of Parliament to the Majority Leader to the Minority Leader because Parliament has failed to do what is right. We have it within our mandate and our power to ensure that MPs are protected, but we failed,” he lamented on Citi TV’s ‘The Big Issue’ on Saturday, October 10.
Sam George also noted that perpetrators of such heinous acts are left off the hook, a situation which has furthered their unsafety.
Recalling his experience in 2018 at the Ayawaso West Wuogon bye-election, Sam George intimated that the leadership of Parliament had chosen to be mute about the occurrence.
“There is a growing perception that it is okay to attack an MP and you will go free. It happened to me in Ayawaso West Wuogon and from the Speaker of Parliament to the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader, they were all deaf and dumb. They were all quiet about that attack when Parliament could on its own establish its might using its privileges but because it was Sam George [nothing happened],” he stated.
“People are emboldened to think that you can attack an MP and it is fine, it is the culture and you are the guy in your community. That is the culture Parliament itself by its inactions has caused and this is simply because the leadership of Parliament gets police protection. They are treated differently from the rest of us. Mr. Speaker drives in a convoy of about three-four vehicles with heavy police protection and the two leaders have police protection so what affects the rest of us does not affect them. If it affected them, they would have done something about it. If Parliament decided that we will approve the appropriation bill without that of the Ministry of Interior which controls the Ghana Police Service, they would provide us with security,” he added.
The late MP for Mfantseman, Ekow Quansah Hayford, met his untimely death after he, together with his driver were allegedly shot by unknown assailants on the Abeadze Dominase–Abeadze Duadzi–Mankessim road believed to be on a robbery spree on Friday, October 9, 2020.
The incident has brought to rise the discussion on whether the state needs to fund security for Members of Parliament.
