‘Order in the House!’
Last Thursday, for the second time in a little over four years, Parliament was reduced to an ugly spectacle that sapped loads of dignity from the House, once again joining the league of global parliamentary brawls stretching from South Africa to Uganda, Turkey, India, Taiwan and several others.
The title ‘Honourable’, literally hijacked by our political actors from assembly members to public sector CEOs, MPs and ministers, appears to be quite a prized one.
In other countries, it is used only on the floor of parliament during proceedings.
Out here, it is close to a hanging offence to omit the address ‘Honourable’.
As such, whether his or her conduct is far from honourable does not matter.
Whatever your view of Ghana’s parliament, it has, throughout the 4th Republic, been a colourful mix of the harmless, the interesting, the dramatic and the plain ugly.
Parliamentary vetting
Take, for instance, the parliamentary vetting of ministers designate.
They would never be complete without the array of the nominee’s kinsmen, hometown traditional rulers and an assortment of family in full regalia and friends strategically arranged behind him or her to ensure that they are captured by the TV cameras broadcasting the event live, beaming and nodding for effect.
Personally, I think this is quite harmless and actually cute, even if quite a number of people feel it is unnecessary.
Traditionally, Ghanaians love to show solidarity with family or friends in numbers on happy occasions such as weddings and christenings, and on sad occasions such as funerals.
The vetting process can elicit quite some tense moments, as well as hearty, hilarious moments, and is one of my favourite TV shows.
Boycotts, frayed nerves, light moments
Perhaps, there is an unwritten rule in Ghana that says at any point, the minority in Parliament must find something over which to boycott proceedings and storm out of the chamber in a huff. Both sides have found this tool expedient at various points. The State of the Nation Address (SONA) has been an interesting pendulum in this, swinging back and forth.
In 2007, the NDC boycotted President Kufuor’s SONA. In 2013, NPP returned the favour by boycotting President Mahama’s SONA and the NDC did the same to President Akufo-Addo’s 2020 SONA.
Other boycotts have included the NDC boycotting committee hearings on the National Health Insurance Bill in 2003, the creation of new regions in 2018 and the swearing-in of Hon. Lydia Alhassan in 2019.
Earlier, in 2015, the NPP staged a walkout over the 12.5 per cent Special Petroleum Tax. In 2022, the NPP majority walked out of the chamber on the back of a censure motion against the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta.
In an institution that is supposed to be defined by the exchange of ideas, it is unsurprising that there have been some rather heated moments of fierce exchanges and outbursts in the house.
In 1997, J. H. Mensah stated in Parliament that he would have toppled the PNDC government if he had arms and ammunition.
Haruna Iddrissu’s furious “I will disrespect you if you dare me” outburst in 2018 and directed at Speaker Mike Oquaye, and Kennedy Agyapong being hauled before his colleagues on the Privilege Committee on contempt of Parliament charges come to mind.
Perhaps because of its peculiar hung nature, the 8th Parliament in particular hosted many frayed nerves, leading to one clash after the other between the NDC and NPP on the floor of the house, right from the get-go all the way to the end, with near-paralysis as the end approached and arguments raged over who was Majority and who was Minority.
Parliament, thus deadlocked, eventually limped painfully to its curtain call.
In what can be best described as its coup de grace delivered by Hon. Armah Buah with full theatrics of a baying caucus, the NDC turned its artillery on the then President Akufo-Addo when he turned up to bid farewell to the House on the last day of the 9th Parliament, thereby irritating his wife, the ‘beautiful Rebecca’.
All work and no play, they say, makes Kofi Antobam a dull boy, and even in conducting its business, Parliament has given us things to chuckle about.
I recall the various patriotic songs in the chamber by opposition elements, Ursula Owusu making herself comfortable on a male MP’s lap in the chamber, Samson Ahi’s ‘trees under schools’ moment and Boakye Agyarko’s referral to certain towns’ names that I blush to repeat in a national newspaper. As for K.T. Hammond, I verily believe he is an institution all by himself, with his hilarious moments in the House.
Ugly brawls
The ugly scenes in Parliament during the vetting process on Thursday deserve every condemnation hurled at those responsible, regardless of who allegedly started what. As someone remarked somewhere, if this had been a group of schoolboys brawling in class, the repercussions would have been dire.
In January 2021, it was about chewing of ballot papers and the trading of vicious slaps and jaw-dislocating blows.
Last week, it was the turning of tables, destruction of public property and heated exchanges on the verge of blows.
Together, these two incidents depict the ugly side of our legislature.
According to the 2024 Afrobarometer report, only about 24 per cent of Ghanaians trusted Parliament, a drop of three per cent from 2022, and a drop of 25 per cent from 2014.
This, in respect of a key purported pillar of our democracy, is quite depressing, and our MPs must look deep within, resolve that this must never happen again and rebuild public trust as a matter of urgency.
In William Shakespeare’s play ‘Julius Caesar’, Mark Antony, speaking at his friend Julius Caesar’s funeral, sarcastically refers to Brutus and his co-assassins thus; ‘…so are they all, all honourable men’, mocking them and thus turning the Roman mob against them.
A word to our Honourables…
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng.
E-mail: rodboat@yahoo.com
