On December 17, 2018, a heated brawl erupted on the floor of parliament between Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, and Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the foreign affairs minister.
The altercation stemmed from allegations that the minister's office, on behalf of the government, had inflated the cost of a six-bedroom residence for Ghana’s new mission in Norway by $8 million.
During the altercation between the minister and Ablakwa, Sam George, the Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, took out his phone to film the brawl.
The foreign affairs minister, in an attempt to prevent him from recording the incident, allegedly charged at Sam George.
The Ningo-Prampram legislator after the incident told the media he was going to file a compliant of assault against Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.
On her part, the Foreign Affairs Minister denied all allegations of attempted assault targeted at Sam George.
According to her, she did not raise her hand to assault her colleague, rather it was a gesture to tell Sam George to quit videoing her. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey maintained she was the victim in the circumstance as her rights to privacy was blatantly abused by Sam George who recorded her without her consent.
“As we were having that heated conversation, Sam George had his phone up and recording it, that is a violation of privacy, that is not acceptable. Why is everybody talking about my stretching my hand? To do what? To hit him? To assault him? Why would I do that?”.
She said she was questioning why Mr Nartey was recording what ensued and added that she raised her arm as “a gesture but it definitely was not an attempt to assault him (Mr Nartey) or to slap him”.
There was a brawl between Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa within the premises of parliament on Monday, 17 December 2018.
The raucous exchange between the two lawmakers from either side of the house, ensued after Mr Ablakwa accused the government of allegedly inflating the cost ($12 million) of a six-bedroom residence for Ghana’s new mission in Norway.
The encounter took place within the corridors of the house in the presence of the media after the Speaker had suspended sitting.
Accra News’ Richard Appiah Sarpong, who was in parliament, said the Minority believes the property has been inflated by $8 million dollars.
He reported that a document in possession of the Minority revealed that a previous buyer, Lillian Olsson, bought the property in 2014 for $2 million and sold it in 2017 to an unknown buyer for $3 million.
This accusation by the Minority forced the Speaker to suspend sitting for further deliberations.
But the two MPs continued the debate within parliament’s corridors, resulting in the brawl.
During the exchanges, Ms Ayorkor Botchwey lunged at another Minority lawmaker, Sam George Nartey, who was apparently videoing the whole brawl on his mobile phone, with the intention of stopping him from doing so.
Mr Nartey was heard afterwards saying he would report to the Speaker that he had been assaulted by Ms Ayorkor Botchwey.
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Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Sam Nartey George