Accra:
Chaos erupted in Ghana’s parliament this week, where lawmakers clashed violently, destroying furniture and engaging in physical altercations. The altercation happened during a session to vet new ministerial appointments on Thursday, following which four MPs were suspended.
The video of the incident was widely shared on social media which showed MPs pushing and shoving each other and damaging tables and microphones. Police were called into the meeting to pacify the situation.
Chaos erupts in Ghana’s Parliament over vetting of Health and Foreign Affairs minister-designates, Minority demands continuation tomorrow.pic.twitter.com/4YBh7KH2LS
— The African Wave (@TheAfrican_Wave) January 30, 2025
As per media reports, the cross-party committee met to vet three lawmakers from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), who were nominated for ministerial positions after the party triumphed over the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in December’s elections.
The committee disagreed over a number of issues, with some lawmakers accusing Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the NPP’s leader in parliament, of unnecessarily dragging out the process in order to settle political scores.
Per a report by BBC, the committee took over five hours to vet just one nominee-communications minister-designate Samuel Nartey George.
Many NDC MPs alleged that it was a form of political retribution by opposition MPs in the committee, who reportedly wanted George to retract his past criticism of former president and NPP leader Nana Akufo-Addo and his vice-president, Mahamadu Bawumia.
The verbal disagreement soon turned physical, with members of the vetting committee ending up on their feet – shouting, pushing each other and upturning tables.
As a result, four lawmakers — three from the NPP and one from the governing party– were suspended by the Speaker of the Parliament for two weeks.
Later, the NPP’s Afenyo-Markin noted that parliamentary customs permit committee members “the opportunity to enquire deeply into every nominee of the president, without limit to questions,” according to the BBC report. He also accused the NDC of trying to “frustrate” this process.