A heated session in Ghana’s parliament turned violent on Thursday night, with lawmakers clashing over the vetting process for new ministerial appointees.
The chaos resulted in damaged furniture, tables, and microphones, prompting police intervention [BBC].
The disagreement arose when members of the vetting committee accused opposition MPs of prolonging the process for political reasons. The committee’s chairman apologized to Ghanaians on Friday morning, describing the incident as “totally unacceptable.”
The cross-party committee was vetting three lawmakers from the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), nominated for ministerial positions after the NDC defeated the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in December’s elections.
Tensions flared when NDC MPs accused NPP parliamentary leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin of unnecessarily prolonging the questioning of nominees.
The situation escalated into shouting, pushing, and furniture being overturned. Afenyo-Markin defended the NPP’s actions, stating that parliamentary customs allow members to “enquire deeply into every nominee of the president, without limit to questions.” He accused the NDC of attempting to “frustrate” the vetting process.
