BOMBSHELL: I called for Military Intervention in Parliament on January 7 – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has disclosed that he prompted the Marshall of Parliament to call in the Military on January 7, 2021, to help him maintain law and order in Parliament when discipline broke down and matters went beyond the control of the Marshall, that day.

He said on that fateful day, during the choice of Speaker for the House, discipline broke down and maintenance of law and order went beyond the control of the Marshall as he was found “sprawling on the floor”.

He indicated that realizing the state of haplessness of the Marshall, he prompted him on two occasions on the need to call in external forces to help maintain law and order in the Chamber of the House, which had gone anarchious and chaotic.

The Majority Leader said after his first prompting of the Marshall, a platoon of policemen came in. But since they could not quell the situation, he prompted the Marshall a second time to bring in the army, whereupon, armed military men stormed the Chamber albeit against rules and regulations of the House. (Among this is the fact that whoever goes to the precepts of Parliament to witness debate or otherwise is seen as a stranger. The Chamber in particular is reserved solely for the Speaker, the Clerk to Parliament, MPs and some authorized clerks and staff).

Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, who also doubles as the Leader of Government Business, and the MP for Suame, threw this bombshell on Thursday when the Leadership of the House met members of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) for a briefing on activities the Agenda of Parliament for this Meeting. The programme was an initiative of the Public Affairs directorate of Parliament.

His statement followed a question posed to him by S. O. Ankamah of ghananewsonline.com.gh who wanted to know what had become of an intended investigation by Parliament into that issue.

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According to the questioner, the action by the soldiers on that day was tantamount to a coup d’êtat.

The Majority Leader rubbished the coup d’êtat element in the question, and described it as a figment of the imagination of some people, and being carried by the questioner. He however fell short of telling the media what had become of that issue ever since it irrupted on January 7, 2021.

Meanwhile, Ghanaians have all these while been left in suspense as to who invited the military into the chamber of Parliament that particular day, until the Majority Leader’s bombshell on Thursday June 3, 2021.

In the face of this suspense, the blame game came to the fore, whereas MPs blamed the Minister for Defense, and the MP for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul for the action of the soldiers, others blamed the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan-Dapaah, who was also in Parliament on  that day.

Source: ghananewsonline.com.gh