Dr. Joshua Zaato: Majority Leader’s Maturity Prevented Blows In Parliament

Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the Majority Leader in Ghana’s Parliament, has been applauded for leading his side of the Caucus to walk out of the Chamber on Tuesday October 22, 2024 after their seats were forcefully taken over and lawlessly occupied by members of the Minority Caucus in a clear act of deliberate provocation. 

Senior Lecturer at the Political Studies Department of the University of Ghana, a renowned Policy Analyst has said that diplomatic approach adopted by Afenyo-Markin was a masterstroke which prevented what could have been an embarrassment to Parliament and the country

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority Group, On Tuesday October 22, insisted they would not heed to any advice to resume their rightful place being the left side of Mr. Speaker and some of them became defensive, aggressive and confrontational when asked to return to their rightful side.

It was at this point that the Majority Leader, Afenyo-Markin asked his Caucus who had nowhere to seat to ignore the provocation and leave the Chamber and move to their offices until the Speaker arrives and hopefully restores normalcy.

Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has given a ruling in the Chamber the previous Thursday which in his view declared vacant the seat of some four Members. The ruling by the Speaker would have implied that the NDC Group was now the Majority but the Supreme Court of Ghana, a day after Bagbin’s ruling asked that it should be stayed and not implemented until a final determination of a suit filed by Afenyo-Markin to that ruling to seek the court’s interpretation of the exact Article of the Constitution the Speaker based his ruling on.

Despite the Supreme Court ruling that the status quo should remain and the Speaker’s ruling be frozen, the NDC Group decided to forcefully take over the Majority’s side of the Chamber.

Commenting on the development during a discussion on TV3’s  Key Points, Dr. Zaato noted that Afenyo-Markin’s reaction to the conduct of the NDC Group was what saved the day.

“People were worried; are we going to have another January 7, 2021? Are we going to see blows being thrown? Are we going to see fisticuffs? Are we going to see people literally beating people up in that Parliament? And at the end of the day are we going to have the Military enter? Are we going to see that?

“The Majority Leader, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, saved us. He saved the country from that spectacle; he called for restraint. He called for restraint. He demonstrated leadership, he demonstrated maturity and he demonstrated decorum by pulling his forces back.

“We never saw that spectacle and the whole country took a sigh of relief that that spectacle did not happen. Remember that it does not matter whether someone was legally wrong or legally right; that spectacle if it had happened would have been one of the worst days in our political history.

“Anybody that will say that no matter what happens, I am going to restrain myself, I am going to show maturity we should begin to celebrate such people in our politics. Because sometimes, a small move like that prevents worse things from happening. And for him to have been able to say that whatever be the case we would fight this some other time in court; we are not throwing in the towel but for now, we are restraining ourselves and for the sanity of the State and for the sanity of the young ones watching and for the sanity of our democracy, I am going to pull my forces back, I am going to show restraint, that is worth celebrating.”, Dr. Zaato noted.

Afenyo-Markin, after  the diplomatic walk out, explained his reasons to journalists: “We are leaving this Chamber peacefully into our offices, awaiting Mr. Speaker’s arrival…If he calls leadership and we do precedent discussions, we will take it up from there, but for now, that lawless theater we will not share with them because Ghana, our country, is bigger than any one individual

“We won’t give them [NDC] the opportunity to be lawless or disturb the peace of Ghana. Our decision to retreat was to prevent any form of chaos that they were trying to incite,” Afenyo-Markin added