Thursday, 30th January, 2025
Hon Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin
Effutu
Mr Speaker, I thank you for this treasured space to make this Statement on the violence that took place at the Jubilee Lounge at the airport on 14th January, 2025. Mr Speaker, the director in charge of the lounge, popularly known as the Jubilee Lounge, Mr George Boateng, on the said date, was conducting his usual duties. Soon after the departure of His Excellency the President to Dubai, some thugs jumped the gate and attacked him until he became unconscious. He is an officer of the State and had the firm instructions of the Chief of Staff to hold on till a replacement was made. In other words, he was told to hold on till 31st January when a replacement would be made and a new person would be appointed. So, he was only waiting to do a formal handing over.
Mr Speaker, as you rightly said, what happened on 7th January was a regular election in our country, a change of government, and a new party had taken over, and that is democracy. We must not allow some thugs within our ranks to do that which would jeopardise the future of democracy in our country.
I take this opportunity to call on all political leaders in our country, to take time, educate the youth, encourage them to be lawful and avoid taking the law into their own hands.
Mr Speaker, Mr George Boateng is a Ghanaian like all of us. It is true that the Government that appointed him is no longer in power but there is a need for smooth transition; a transition that would allow the new officer take over from him. Mr Speaker, while I am at this, let me also thank the military men on duty that day for their peaceful intervention. But for them, perhaps Mr George Boateng would have lost his life. Watching the pathetic video, their intervention helped to save the life of our dear brother, Mr George Boateng. I pray, that a thing like this never happens again in our country.
Mr Speaker, to conclude, I would want this House to ferry a Resolution to the Executive, to the effect that all must be done in ensuring that if possible, a Bill is brought to this House for an enactment that would deal with issues such as what has happened in a post-election era. Ghana is all we have; we do not have to jeopardise our democracy. Our conduct as political leaders must also give a positive signal to our citizens, that we are here as brothers and sisters; we are not here to fight. We do not demand for power to unleash violence; but we demand for power for development.
Mr Speaker, without more, I would want to thank you for this treasured space and I pray that the needful would be done to safeguard our democracy and to assure every citizen that the change of power does not call for violence.
Hon Suhuyini Sayibu Alhassan
Tamale North
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity. I am very excited you are guiding this conversation for us not to do our usual politicking with this very serious matter that in some cases, have led to loss of lives and destruction of properties.
Mr Speaker, we are often told, that the more things change, the more they remain the same. And based on that, we are encouraged to see wrong as wrong; no matter the time and no matter who it affects. I am sure if we did that repeatedly, many of our problems in this country would have been solved long ago. I am happy that the guidance we have as we engage in this conversation is for us to look at how we can deal with this problem and not how to remind each other of who did it first, and who is taking revenge, or responding. I am especially happy that the conversation is not about laying blames on which regime is the one that has done it the most during political takeover after election.
Mr Speaker, when I was listening to the Minority Leader, for a moment — and it is so many news reports. Sometimes when one picks our old news reports, one only has to change names, and the story would still be relevant today, even if the story was first published in the 1960s. So when I was listening to the Minority Leader, for a moment, I thought he was going to say ASP Nanka Bruce but he said George Boateng and the scenarios are the same. The effect is the same, it is just the times that differ; 2017 and 2025. When would it end? That is why I am happy that this conversation is about looking at how to deal with the problem.
So Mr Speaker, I thank you for that guidance and I thank the Minority Leader for raising this concern. Sometimes, let us not wait for an equalisation before we look for a solution. Every time something is wrong, let us deal with it as and when it is wrong, whether it affects us or not. Once we identify it as being wrong, we must be bold enough to confront it. Mr Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity.
Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Ofoase Ayirebi
Mr Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Statement that has been made by the Minority Leader.
Mr Speaker, I was hoping that in the commentary, we would not go back to finger pointing and the attempt to equalise. Indeed, this has happened in time past. Around 2017, when similar incidence took place, the administration even went further to pass the Vigilantism and Related Offences Bill, 2019 into law, as part of measures to contain it. So, my hope is that the discussion we are having today would not seek to equalise and be pointing fingers here and there.
Mr Speaker, to deal with it, the first thing we have to do is to take responsibility, and we have to call a spade, a spade. This escalation of post elections violence in the 2024 elections is simply because the two leading political parties have instigated it, and Mr Speaker, I would give evidence.
On the night of the election, we had senior political actors on television, asking supporters of their parties to go to the collation centres under various disguises. Mr Speaker, that is the kind of instigation that triggered what started then, and is still going on. We must accept responsibility as the first step if we want to deal with it.
Mr Speaker, the second responsibility is that we have failed to be bold in condemning it. We whiff-whaff around the corners depending on where we are. In fact, it is only the Savannah Regional branch of the NDC, that I have seen issue a clear statement of condemnation and asked the police to deal with the persons who are engaging in this incidence of violence. The condemnation should be strong and robust, and across board, and not whiff-wharfing because they may be persons who are associated with our political parties.
Mr Speaker, the third thing is that there is a failure to deal with the people who are doing this. The number of incidences that have taken place, recorded on camera, and aired on television, even in this particular instance, the persons who perpetuated this level of assault are all clear, you can see them but we are yet to hear of anybody who is being brought before the courts or being punished for this and that is the reason for which it is going on.
Mr Speaker, in addition to the Hon Leader’s call that we send a resolution to the Executive branch, my prayer would be that the resolution includes a request for a proper public enquiry into the conditions under which law and order broke down at quite a number of collation centres. The conditions under which we have seen attacks on public institutions and offices. Mr Speaker, the reason is that if we do not do this, a subtle message has been sent to every contestant in the 2028 elections. Let us be very honest, if we do not deal with this and nip it in the bud, a subtle message has been sent to every contestant in the 2028 elections that they have to prepare their own private security to find ways of either protecting or preserving law and order at the collation centres and that would be dangerous. We do not need to do that and it is important that this is nipped in the bud.
Mr Speaker, one of the very worrying things is that you see police and military persons there but often incapacitated and unable to contain these situations. We must say something to the security agencies as well, that the fact that a party has won power and their supporters may be perpetuating some sort of activities on electoral officers or other persons does not mean you should be afraid to do your job. We must be firm and clear with the security agencies that it is their job to provide security whether at collation centres, public institutions or to public officers who go about their duties.
Mr Speaker, I support the Hon Leader’s call that we send a resolution to the Executive branch. My prayer if it is possible, is to include in that resolution that the proper public enquiry should take place into the conditions under which law and order broke down at many parts where that law and order should have been preserved. This is so that we nip it in the bud and do not have an incident in 2028 where people take the law into their own hands.
Thank you,
Mr Speaker, for the opportunity.
Hon Felix Kwakye Ofosu
Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the guidance but it was necessary to recall these events to place the discussion in proper context because I listened to my Hon Friend and Brother and others who spoke in a manner that suggested that this is a recent phenomenon.
Mr Speaker, I have a few proposals of my own. What I believe is the cause of these problems is that whereas we have done relatively well in the management of our elections, at the very least we have had four peaceful transfers of power. So, we have got that right, what we have failed to do is to get the immediate post elections period processes right. It does appear that right after elections or after the winner is declared, our security agencies go to sleep, they effectively collapse and therefore are unable to deal with these miscreants. Some of whom act this way in retribution against others who they perceived to have wronged them in the past.
Mr Speaker, it does appear that our Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845) requires further amendment to strengthen the hands of State Agencies to deal more effectively with the immediate post-election period.
Mr Speaker, I have wondered why it is not possible for the winner of the elections to take over power immediately. We do know that in the United Kingdom for instance, a day after a new prime minister is elected, he takes over Downing Street, so there is literally no gap that would be filled by miscreants and persons who are minded to engage in lawlessness. I think we can go on that tangent and ensure that the transition is quicker, swifter and more seamless than it is at this particular time. We run a patronage system, all of us would appreciate that sometimes the security agencies are frozen into inaction because they are uncertain about what fate awaits them if they were to move against persons who are perceived to belong to the party that has won the elections. That is why sometimes these things happen but we cannot resolve this problem without taking a holistic view, without appreciating that it runs deeper than merely citing recent instances to buttress one’s argument.
Mr Speaker, I associate with the position taken by the Minority Leader but let us broaden the discussion, let us realise that the problem runs much deeper than we are appreciating at the moment.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute.
Hon Samuel Abdulai Jinapor
Damongo
Thank you, Mr Speaker for the opportunity to contribute to this very important matter on the Floor and I would want to thank the Hon Minority Leader for bringing this up.
Mr Speaker, when countries have problems, challenges or some mischief that they have to cure, we are required to brainstorm to work together to seek solutions to those problems. A case in point is the passage of the Presidential Transition Act, 2012which was a response to the chaotic nature of the Fourth Republican transitions which seems to have largely assisted in the smooth transition from one Government to another. The Presidential Office Act is yet another example and that is why I believe that your admonishment and the call that we should focus on solutions and proffer suggestions to be able to deal with this matter is absolutely important.
Mr Speaker, the proposal that a resolution be sent from this House to the Executive expressing the concern of this House and making the point that Parliament takes a dim view of what is happening in our country and further calling for a public enquiry into how these disturbances occur during collations and the chaos we are witnessing in our country is one that I support and I think that we should examine very seriously. That this House, this Parliament, an arm of Government, the Legislature, sends a resolution to the Executive, expressing the House’s deep concern about what is happening and calling for a public enquiry into all these acts of violence which have taken place in this country.
Mr Speaker, regarding the concerns raised about the length of transitions, in the United States of America, elections are held on 4th November, inauguration takes place on 20th January, some two months plus, that is their transitional period. In Ghana we have a one-month transition, with the exception of the infamous 2021 transition, they do not have such chaos and such violence characterise their transitions and so that for me is not the reason for what is going on.
But Mr Speaker, there is another erroneous impression which has been created. Yes, there have been acts of violence perpetuated against Members of the erstwhile government and Members of the NPP but what is even more disturbing is the intra-government battles and I say violent battles. Mr Speaker, that is more disturbing. An NPP Member has been pounced upon, he has been assaulted, he has been beaten; an NPP former Minister has been molested, that is bad enough.
Mr Speaker, the situation where the President of the Republic makes an appointment to an important institution of State and political party thugs, hooligans, and actors take siege of that institution and say
Mr Speaker, I perfectly agree with you. I really take your wisdom. I am just contextualising the matter and situating it in the context where we can have a bi-partisan buy in. Mr Speaker, if you listen carefully, the impression that is created is that, when the NPP took office in 2017, violence was meted out unto NDC Members and indeed, Mr Speaker, that may be the case and that since the NDC has been in office — a certain revenge and I heard that from the other Side. But I am saying that for me, it is not the issue, and that we all agree but it is more of a fundamental challenge which is why Mr Speaker you are right, that we should seek solutions and come up with suggestions in dealing with this matter. I am saying that this matter has even gotten to the point where the sitting President is being threatened as we speak today.
Mr Speaker, today, two gentlemen appeared at the headquarters of the Youth Employment Authority with both of them holding appointment letters from Jubilee House. Both of them came with their thugs and there was a clash at the Youth Employment Authority today and the President was being threatened.
Mr Speaker, what I have to say is that, this call by Mr Speaker and the Minority Leader, supported by the Majority Side that we need to deal with this matter, I want to make some recommendations.
The first recommendation I want to make is that this matter in all forms and shape, is purely a matter of law and order. If somebody goes to pounce on Mr Boateng at Jubilee Lounge and assaults him, we do not have to expand the Transitional Act, 2012 in order to deal with it. It is assault; it is a crime under the Criminal Code of our country, and the Police must take charge of it and deal with it.
Mr Speaker, when people go to seize the Ghana Revenue Authority headquarters and threaten that they would not allow the President’s appointee to take office, it is an issue of law and order. Mr Speaker, when people go to National Communication’s Authority and lay siege on the National Communication Authority, it is a law and order issue. Mr Speaker, when party thugs and hoodlums seize the weapon of a military officer, they have the audacity and the effrontery to seize the weapon of a soldier, Mr Speaker, it is a law and order issue. Mr Speaker is asking for solutions and I welcome that. Thank you for that request.
Mr Speaker, the proposal and the suggestions we are making from this Side of the House is that, this should be construed by all intents and purposes as a law and order issue and the InspectorGeneral of Police and the Ghana Police Service, and the President of the Republic who is the chief custodian of law and order, should step in and bring law and order into our country.
Mr Speaker, if we do not deal with this matter, I am not a prophet of doom, it is going to get worse because once the Government gets fully established, and there are no other offices for party thugs to take over, all of us and by that, I mean all of us —[Uproar]— Mr Speaker, if you would allow me to be blunt, the Rt Hon Speaker himself, Members of this House, Members of the religious community, civil society members, members of the media, ordinary citizens, my good friend Mr Asare Kwame Obeng, all of us in this House, and all of us in Ghana would be at risk.
Mr Speaker, I have followed your career very closely and you have been an advocate of discipline, and law and order, and you know too well that just as the former President Jerry John Rawlings said to them, that when you have a stove and one person puts his hand on the stove and it burns him and another person puts his hand on the same stove and it does not burn him, then there is a breakdown of law and order.
Mr Speaker let me conclude by reiterating the call that this House sends a resolution to the Executive and in that resolution, we should call for a public enquiry into the circumstances under which on the night of 7th December, through 8th ,9 th to the 10th December, 2024, after Ghanaians have exercised their civil responsibility by casting their votes in peace and tranquility, when it came to collation, the Electoral Commission came under siege. At gun point, declarations were made and this has travelled all the way to this point and Ablekuma North is still outstanding. That public enquiry should unravel and establish the circumstances which have led to this level of anarchy.
In conclusion, in that Resolution, we should call on the President, who is the chief custodian of law and order, to take charge of law and order in this country. President Mahama should take charge of law and order in this country.
Mr Speaker, respectfully, the number one duty and responsibility of a President is to ensure that there is law and order. Today, he has a Minister for the Interior and a Minister for Defence, so the security apparatus has been put in place. In all humility, modesty, and respect, I conclude by saying that Mr President should take charge of law and order.
Hon Ayariga Mahama
Bawku Central
Mr Speaker, the matters we are discussing in this Chamber today are very grave. I am not a Christian, but some biblical verses sometimes jump at me such as the one found in Galatians 6:7. Mr Speaker, first and foremost, any act of violence against any person in Ghana ought to be condemned. So, I start by unreservedly condemning any violence committed by anybody against any citizen of this country.
Mr Speaker, we must all stand together in condemning violence; it should not be encouraged and entertained. I think that we are discussing something bigger than just the act of violence by one person against another. We are discussing what we have all observed as a pattern that is developing in our democracy. Initially, the problem was organised violence by the different political parties against one another during election campaigns. That was what led us to think through the problem and we passed the Bill against vigilantism. That was to deal with preelection violence and violence during elections, violence during campaigns, and the organisation of security groups by both political parties used during campaigns and ultimately used during elections.
We enacted that legislation and I think that we all agree that this last election, at least the period leading up to the election and the period of the campaign saw less violence than we had seen previously in our political history. What we are seeing is also another form of violence that has often characterised change in regime, not election transitions because when it is a transition from a president who has served one term and is serving a second term, and is continuing in office, we hardly witness violence during such transitions. But when it is a transition from one political party to a different political party, whether from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to New Patriotic Party (NPP) or vice versa, what we have consistently witnessed has been some form of violence and that is an area that as a country, we have not yet thought through carefully and found a mechanism for addressing that form of violence.
Mr Speaker, contributors have said a lot of things, that I believe, provide some ideas as to how we may deal with a problem like that. As a member of the ECOWAS Parliament, I happened to be part of the election observation team to Sierra Leone. Immediately the results were declared, at 12 midnight of the evening of the declaration of the results, I observed that everybody was running towards the Radisson Blu Mammy Yoko Hotel. I asked, “What was happening at the Radisson Blu Hotel?” I was told they were going to swear in the President. I said, “But they just declared the results” but they said “Here, immediately they declare the results, we swear in the President. We do not allow any gap. The President has to take over immediately.” That is how they do it in Sierra Leone. Later, an inaugural event is organised, but upon the declaration of the results, the President-elect takes office immediately so that he is in charge. Here, we have a period, usually, about one month between when the results are declared and when the new President takes over.
Mr Speaker, I have an experience that I want to recount here. After the election and before the inauguration of the new President, I received a call that the rice and maize that this House approved to be purchased, which had been stored in Tema at a warehouse, was being guarded and protected by some civilians and that if I did not intervene, they would be a problem, since I was a member of the Transition team. So, I got up and drove there to find out who these civilians were. There were some young people; some of them I knew, but others I did not know. I asked them what the problem was and they said the rice that was purchased was being stolen so they were there to protect it. I asked them, “But you are not security agents so why have you taken it upon yourselves to protect the rice?” They said, “Sir, we have to protect the rice because some people intend to steal it.”
Mr Speaker, I engaged them and we came to some understanding as to how the rice should be protected until 7th January, 2025 when the new President is sworn in.
Mr Speaker, young people went to some of the ministry buildings, and some of the agencies, and if one went to them to ask why they were standing there, they would say they were protecting public assets. They claimed that some people intended to steal the vehicles and some items in the ministries, and they could not trust the security agencies so they were there to protect those assets. We saw a similar pattern across the country. In fact, in my region, the young men went and some of them said there were some items in the warehouses of the various district assembly buildings. So, I called my regional chairman and we called the Regional Police Commander and said, “Go and secure these warehouses; put a padlock”— and we told the young people, “If you believe that there are items there that would be stolen by the assembly staff, you should add one padlock, take your key away and the Regional Commander would also take his key away. Nobody would open those ware houses until after the 7th January, 2025 when the new President is sworn in.” They did that and we secured everything in the warehouses.
So, what I see is a problem of trust and lack of confidence during transitions. Citizens taking upon themselves to protect public assets is something that I find regrettable, yet they think they are engaged in a patriotic duty. Why have we arrived at this?
Mr Speaker, if you would recall, four years ago, in this very House, we had a major challenge which was the question of recruitment into our security agencies. If Hon Members would recall, my Colleagues, Alhaji Alhassan Suhiyini, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, and I brought before this House a Motion to investigate recruitments into the security agencies.
Mr Speaker, the ordinary thing that should happen is that during a transition, the security agencies should secure every asset of the State. Why is it that the youth of this country do not have confidence in the security agencies to do their job? The answer is simple. They do not have confidence because in most cases, they see the actors in those security agencies as an extension of the party in power. They do not see the security agencies as independent professional institutions that would genuinely protect public assets because by the way we conducted affairs, we compromised the integrity of our security agencies.
Yesterday, a civil servant, serving in a ministry that I would not mention, called me and said, “I am a civil servant. I came to work; I want to take one of the official vehicles and drive to the Controller and Accountants General Department to carry out some functions but there are some young people at the entrance of my ministry saying that I cannot move the vehicle out. I should use my own vehicle to carry out these functions.”
Mr Speaker, I drove there, met the young people, asked them what the problem was and they told me they were protecting the vehicles. I told them to allow the civil servant drive the vehicle to the Controller and AccountantGeneral’s Department’s office and carry out his functions and come back. They told me that since I had gone to tell them, they would let the vehicle go.
Mr Speaker, why will they seek to protect state assets from civil servants because we know that our Civil Service is supposed to be non-partisan; it is supposed to be professional. Why? Because we have conducted ourselves in a such way that we always, while in power, try to co-opt the Civil Service and use them as if they are a part of our party apparatus and not independent professional officers who should not be acting under the whims and caprices of politicians.
In doing that, we have compromised the neutrality and the integrity of our Civil Service. And so, the public do not see the civil servants as neutral, independent professional actors; they see them as part of our various political organisations and so they do not trust them. So, what we are facing today is a major loss of confidence in institutions that ordinarily should be independent, professional and should be respected and highly regarded by every single Ghanaian, but they are not. And so, when I am asked the Motion that should be passed in this House, the Resolution to be passed in this House, we should pass a resolution asking this House to enquire into our conduct in and out of office that has ultimately led to the situation that we are faced with today: where the young people in this country do not have confidence in our Civil Service; do not have confidence in our Police Service; do not have confidence in our Army and feel that they on their own should go on and protect property and assets that we have recruited and are paying these same services to protect. We have a genuine problem, and it is not a partisan matter.
Today, we are reaping the benefits of the seeds that we, invariably, sowed when we were in office. And I hope that the party that I belong to and has just won an election, and has taken over this country, will not go along that path. That is why I was happy when Hon Ministers who appeared before the Appointments Committee promised that they would ensure that recruitments into the Military, Police, Fire Service and all these professional bodies that are supposed to carry out independent and professional functions, indeed are impartial, not political, and every Ghanaian citizen has a fair opportunity of being recruited. And that when they are recruited, they are not made to understand that it is a reward for being a member of a political party but that it is a calling to be a part of a noble organisation that should stand up for this country and not one political group.
Mr Speaker, we are reaping what we sowed; lets us not complain. I will conclude by saying that I agree that we should condemn it together, unambiguously. It should not happen across party lines. I agree that we should review the situation with a view to coming out with proposals of how to deal with this problem that we are confronted with. We can make recommendations which we could communicate to the Executive, but let us not turn it into a partisan thing and start saying that the President has lost control; the President is not doing this; he has not taken charge and that he should take charge. The President is trying to take charge of the situation but the young people are telling him that they cannot trust the Police, Military, Public Service because those who came before him politicise these organisations. I am telling us what I personally experienced. And I am telling you that, just yesterday, I had to go and convince the young people to allow a civil servant to perform his functions. They are clearly not right, but were we right when we created an impression that people should be recruited to the security agencies on the basis of partisanship; were we right? Were we right when we politicised our Civil Service?
Were we right when we politicised our Military Service? Were we right when we ran this country in such a way that we excluded everyone who was not part of our party? Were we right when a majority of procurements were sole-sourced and the business community were denied business unless they identified with a political party?
Mr Speaker, we are reaping what we sowed. So, I do agree that it is a genuine problem but I am saying that all of us have in the past behaved in ways that have encouraged the attitudes, tendencies and behaviours that we are witnessing today. Let us agree as a House that we are going to work together to end impunity; that we are going to work together to ensure greater inclusion in governance; that we are going to share the benefits of prosperity together.
Mr Speaker, on this note, I would thank my Colleague, the Hon Minority Leader for making this Statement. We join him to condemn the violence against the manager of the Jubilee Lounge. We agree with him that the matter should be investigated, and that those who engage in such conducts, must be held accountable. But I urge all of us to work together to change the narrative, and to reset Ghana.
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