Bagbin suspends sitting
MPs show placards in parliament
Call it a routine or an unconventional parliamentary convention that has come to stay and you won't be wrong.
For what it is worth, there has hardly been any such constitutional event in the House that has been devoid of some of the theatrics that comes from the Members of Parliament.
If it is not from the balancing of placards that read some of the most outrageous things, then the MPs might just be determining the mood of the day in what they collectively wear or just something else altogether.
And by the way, it must be stated that most of these group actions are usually undertaken by only one side of the House (preferably the Minority).
When Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, appeared before parliament on Monday, July 25, 2022, to present the 2022 Mid-Year Budget Review, his over-an-hour address was equally greeted with intermittent chants from the Minority MPs but perhaps, none anticipated the prolonged expanse of verbal competition that would characterize the conclusion of his address.
Giving out the first bites of this ‘fight,’ the Members of Parliament on the Minority, beating the surfaces of their tables while loudly chanting “resign” and “away,” it became obvious that they were winning this convincingly until after they had exhausted their strengths a few minutes after.
Almost immediately, the hitherto overshadowed voices of the Majority MPs found their feet and they gave it their best shots, chanting the patriotic song of “Dwen Oman Yi Ho.”
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, after allowing the MPs to have their go, finally brought the House to order, explaining that he only allowed it to go on for that long because of how long they had been sitting.
The Speaker eventually suspended sitting for 10 minutes.
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EA/BOG
The leaders of the Majority and the Minority sides of parliament with the Speaker