MPs who were captured on live television vandalising public property have faced no prosecutions скачать в хорошем качестве

MPs who were captured on live television vandalising public property have faced no prosecutions

Fellow Ghanaians, what began as an ordinary sitting of Parliament’s Appointments Committee in 2025, a routine exercise meant to scrutinise ministerial nominees on behalf of the Ghanaian people, descended instead into one of the most shameful spectacles in the recent history of our democracy, and the tragedy is not only what happened on that day, but what has happened, or more accurately what has not happened, in the one full year since. The disagreement itself was not extraordinary, because parliamentary committees disagree all the time, and in this case it was over something as mundane as the number of ministerial nominees to be vetted, an issue that should have been resolved through negotiation, compromise, and respect for procedure, yet instead of debate and dialogue, what unfolded before the nation’s eyes was chaos, shouting, pushing, the trading of blows, and the destruction of public property in a space that is supposed to represent the highest ideals of our democratic culture. For a country that prides itself on being a beacon of democracy on the continent, the images that emerged from that committee room were deeply embarrassing, because they showed Members of Parliament, elected to make laws, openly breaking the law, vandalising furniture, disrupting proceedings, and behaving in ways that would have earned ordinary citizens swift arrest and prosecution had it happened anywhere else. To manage the fallout, a special committee was constituted to investigate the disturbances, witnesses were invited, testimonies were taken, a report was compiled, and the nation was assured that the matter would be dealt with thoroughly and transparently, yet one year later that report has still not been laid before the House, has not been debated, has not been acted upon, and for all practical purposes has vanished into the bureaucratic void. This is where the real indictment lies. Because while that report gathers dust somewhere within the walls of Parliament, MPs who were captured on live television vandalising public property have faced no prosecutions, no surcharges, no restitution, no meaningful sanctions of any kind, despite the Speaker’s public vow at the time to crack the whip and restore discipline, and the unavoidable conclusion is that Parliament, as an institution, chose self preservation over accountability. Fellow Ghanaians, this is not just about broken tables and damaged microphones, it is about the moral authority of Parliament itself, because how does a House that cannot discipline its own members with credibility expect to command respect from citizens, how does a Parliament that tolerates violence within its chambers later turn around to summon citizens for contempt, when MPs themselves behave contemptuously of Parliament on a near daily basis. We have seen this pattern before, and that is what makes it so troubling. In the previous, Eighth Parliament, the scenes were even worse, with real physical fights on the floor of the House, MPs grabbing each other, security intervening, and again, no real consequences followed, and that Parliament itself began under a cloud when journalists were manhandled and chased out of the chamber, another incident that passed without accountability, reinforcing the perception that Parliament has become a law unto itself. When Members of Parliament insult one another in dehumanising terms, when a sitting MP can be described publicly as the daughter of a murderer without consequence, when threats, heckling, and near violence become routine features of parliamentary business, what exactly are we telling young Ghanaians about leadership, about democracy, about the rule of law. The danger is not hypothetical. When every disagreement now threatens to degenerate into chaos, when MPs know from experience that even the most egregious conduct will eventually be swept under the carpet in the name of political peace, we are laying the groundwork for even worse scenes in the future, because impunity is a teacher, and Parliament has been teaching its members that there is little to fear. #JoyPrime