The Member of Parliament for Tamale Central has called for an investigation into the presence of military men in Parliament in the early hours of Thursday.
According to Mohammed Murtala, their presence in Parliament, where disagreement among members is commonplace is a blur on the integrity of the House and unnecessary.
“I was in the 6th parliament and never in the history of this country, whether in the first, second, or third republic, have we had armed military men deployed into the chamber. That was a dangerous spectre and it was completely unacceptable,” he told JoyNews’ Benjamin Akakpo.
Mr Murtala alleged that the Minister for Defense, Dominic Nititwul, called in the military to the floor of Parliament.
"When he was deploying the men that was not necessary. It doesn't matter the differences we argue sometimes in Parliament," he added.
His comment comes after heavily armed military and police officers marched unto the floor of the Parliament to restore calm after some opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs, for the fourth time, disrupted the electoral process of a new Speaker for the House.
Some members of the Minority, led by their Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka continuously disrupted the election process by carrying away the ballot box.
According to the NDC, the lawmakers on the New Patriotic Party (NPP) side of Parliament were breaking the order of secret voting by showing their ballot to their whip, Frank Annor-Dompreh before depositing it in the box.
However, Mr Murtala indicated the House has witnessed heated arguments which have reached a “crescendo” but never to the extent of needing military intervention.
“... in fact, the marshalls were there, I don’t think anybody exchanged blows with anybody, it was just unacceptable.”
He explained that an investigation will be needed to bring to book whoever invited the military and expose “the reasons behind the invitation.”
Meanwhile, former MP for Nadowli Kaloe, Alban Bagbin was elected the Speaker of the 8th Parliament of Ghana.
Before his swearing-in the MP-elect for Tema West, Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah snatched ballot papers from the hands of the parliamentary official and bolted through the exit of the chamber amidst resistance from his colleagues.
His attempt to compromise the election failed after some MPs including Muntaka Mubarak stopped him from running away with ballot papers.
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